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Potomac Landings 



BY 
PAUL WILSTACH 

Author of 

" Mount Vernon," " Richard 

Mansfield, the Man and 

the Actor," Etc. 



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PHOTO GRAPHS 

BY 

ROGER B. WHITMAN 

AND OTHERS 



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GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1921 



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gCl.a630309 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, 1921, BY 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE * COMPANY 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION 

INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN 

PBINT£0 AT OABDEN CITY, N. Y., C. S. A. 

Fir*l Edition 



M 17 '2 



To 
PAUL KESTER 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

General Survey of the Potomac River — Tidewater and Fresh 
Water — Estuaries of the Chesapeake — The Open Hand a Map of 
Virginia Tidal Waters — The Pictorial Potomac — Current and Tide 
—The Broad Margin of Life— The Eye of History .... 1 

CHAPTER II 

Explorers — Origin of the River's Name — ^The First White Man 
— The Spaniards — Captain John Smith — His Cruise in an Open 
Barge — Old Indian Towtis — Boyish Harry Spelman — His Flight 
with the King — His Tragic Death — Captain Samuel Argoll, the 
Rugged — Pocahontas on the Potomac — Captain Henry Fleet, the 
Shrewd 11 

CHAPTER III 

Pioneers — Lord Baltimore's Colony — The Ark and the Dove — 
Governor Leonard Calvert at Piscataway — Founding the Capital 
of Maryland at St. Mary's— The Great Grant of the Northern 
Neck — Colonizing on the Coan — Acquiring Title to Virgin Land — 
Importance of the Creeks — Forest Clearing and Cabin Building — 
Contests with Primitive Nature — Birds, Beasts, and Fishes — 
Indian Problems — Father White — Margaret Brent ... 27 

CHAPTER IV 

Boundaries — Maryland and Virginia's Two-Hundred- Year 
Contest for the Potomac — Now Wholly in Maryland — Laying 
Out the Counties — Plotting the Parishes — Early Churches on 
Both Shores— Origin of Place Names on the Potomac — Comic 
Issue of a Too Fervent Patriotism 47 

CHAPTER V 

Plantations — Vast Land Holdings — Manorial Land System in 
Maryland— Land Transfer "By the Rod"— Court Leet and 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

Court Baron — Virginia Repudiates the Manorial System — An 
Ancient Indian Deed — Factors in Huge Fortunes — Tobacco as 
Crop and Currency — Trade Between Potomac Landings and 
English Ports 64 

CHAPTER VI 

Manors of Maryland — The Lord Proprietor's Manors — St. 
Inigoes — Cross Manor — Porto Bello — Evelynton Manor — Little 
Bretton and Beggar's Neck — St. Clement's Manor — Basford 
Manor — Chaptico Manor — Wolleston Manor — Port Tobacco 
Neighbourhood — Nanjemoy — Warburton Manor and Piscataway 
Neighbourhood — Original Manors Where the Landings End . 87 

CHAPTER VII 

Plantations and Mansions on the Virginia Shore — Northumber- 
land House and Mantua — Wilton, Pecatone, Bushfield, Hickory 
Hill, Stratford, and other Westmoreland Seats — Lees in Public 
Life — Birthplaces of Washington, Madison, and Monroe — Chotank 
and the Fitzhughs — Aquia and the Brents — Leesylvania and 
"Light Horse Harry" — Belle Air and Parson Weems — Gunston 
Hall — Mount Vernon, Abingdon, Woodlawn Mansion, Tudor 
Place, and Arlington 112 

CHAPTER VIII 

Towns on Tidewater — Paper Towns — The Provincial Capital 
at St. Mary's, Its Rise and Fall — Kinsale, Leonardtown, Port 
Tobacco, Dumfries, Colchester and Occoquon — Piscataway and 
the Annapolis Players — ^Historic Alexandria — Georgetown at the 
Head of Navigation 136 

CHAPTER IX 

Architecture and Building — First Dwellings — Chimneys — Nails 
as Heirlooms — Introduction of Glass into Colonial America — Types 
of Houses — Symmetrically Related Outbuildings — Porticos — 
"Bricks from England " Fable — Brick Bonds — Oyster-Shell Mortar 
— Roofs — Hedges, Gardens, and River Walks .... 149 

CHAPTER X 

Domestic Life in the "Great House" — Furniture — Furnishings 
— Shopping in London by Ships from the Landings — Family Por- 



CONTENTS ix 

traits — ^Musical Instruments — Keeping the Fireplaces Flaming in 
Winter — Lighting Problems — Following London Fashions by the 
Mail-Order System — Meals — Cooking — Strong Drink and Toasts 
by Candle Light 168 

CHAPTER XI 

Domestic Life Outside the "Great House" — Domestic Offices — 
The Shore About the Landing — Old Mills — Fences — Fields and 
Orchards — Labour — Indentured Servants — Sickness, Doctors, 
Remedies — Legend for a Sundial 192 

CHAPTER XII 

Education on the Potomac — "The Athens of Virginia" — Field 
Schools — Tutors — Fithian's Routine in a Plantation Schoolroom 
— Christian's Dancing Classes — ^The Colonial Girl's Accomplish- 
ments — Potomac Boys Sent to English Universities — Libraries in 
the Mansions — Lending Libraries — Printing and the Periodical 
Press 209 

CHAPTER XIII 

Religious Life — Sunday Scenes About the Riverside Churches — 
Memorials in the Chancels — Uses of the Bell — Pay of the Clergy 
— Glebes — Sporting Parsons — Baptisms and Gossips — Weddings — 
Bringing Home the Bacon — Burials — Tombs and Epitaphs — 
Mourning Rings 237 

CHAPTER XIV 

Social Life — Based on Home and a Big Family — Hospitality — 
Dinner Parties — A Call and Spending the Day — The Grand Tour 
■ — Old-Time Games — House Parties — Holidays — Sports — Fox 
Hunting — Horse Racing — Jockey Clubs — Race Tracks in Potomac 
Fields — Boat Races — Boxmg Matches — ^The Winter Season at 
the Colonial Capitals 259 

CHAPTER XV 

Travel — Boats and Water Travel — Rolling Roads — Highways 
and Gates — Notched Roads in Maryland — Bridges Over the Creek 
Heads — Ingenuity in Fording — Equipages — Calash, Chaise, and 
Chariot — Ferries — Stage-Coach Routes — Steam Boats and Steam 
Trains — Tidewater Taverns — ^The Actors at the Ordinary . 279 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVI 

Mail — Letter Writing — Primitive Carriers — Letters from the 
Landings by English Ships — Letters in Duplicate by Different 
Ships as Insurance of Delivery — First Mail Route — Perry, the 
Post Rider — Letters to Philadelphia Regularly Eight Times a 
Year — Spottswood Speeds the Posts — Mail Day at the Landings 
—Gazettes 307 

CHAPTER XVII 

Naval and Military Engagements — Indian Warfare — Bacon's 
Rebellion Began on the Potomac — General Braddock and His 
Army Sail Up to Alexandria — The Potomac Navy in the Revolu- 
tion — British Raiders — Levying on Mount Vernon — Pirates — 
1812-1814— Sigourney's Heroic Death— English Fleet Sails Up 
to Attack the Capital— Battle of Belvoir—" Potomac Flotilla" in 
the Civil War — Blockade Running — Lincoln on the Potomac — 
Booth's Flight Across the River — Activities in the Great War 318 

CHAPTER XVIII 

The River To-day — From Landing to Landing — Remains, Ruins, 
and Restorations — Where All Postal Cancelling Stamps Are Made 
— Fishing for Champagne — An Aeroplane Pioneer — Ship Cere- 
monies Passing Mount Vernon — Panorama About the Last 
Landing 345 

INDEX 363 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cover linings reproduce Captain John Smith's Map of Chesa- 
peake Bay and its tributaries which includes one of the first 
published maps of the Potomac River. 

Map of the Potomac River Tidewater Country Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

Great Falls of the Potomac 8 

Calvert's Bay 8 

Occoquon Creek above the Village 16 

A Stretch of Potomac Beach 16 

St. Mary's River 36 

Pohick Church 52 

Yeocomico Church 52 

Coan River Landing 68 

Cross Manor House 84 

An Old Farm House on Cartagena 88 

Bachelor's Hope 88 

The Mouth of the Wicomico River 96 

Rose Hill 06 

Thomas Atwood Digges 100 

John Hanson 100 

Wilton 116 

Bushfield 120 

Washington's Birthplace 120 

Gunston Hall 128 

Mount Vernon 128 

Arlington 1S2 

Tudor Hall 148 

Tudor^Place 148 

xi 



xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

rACIIfO PAGE 

Chimneys 152 

Stairways 152 

Mount Vernon from the Air 160 

Stratford Hall 160 

Woodlawn Mansion 164 

Looking Toward the Potomac from Mulberry Fields . . 164 

Panelled Room from Marmion 180 

Mantel and Panelling in Drawing Room of Mulberry Fields 180 

Fireplace and Mantel in Carlyle House 180 

Mulberry Fields 196 

Woodlawn Mansion 196 

Councillor Robert Carter 212 

Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia 244 

Interior of Pohick Church 244 

Mantua 260 

West Doorway of the Carlyle House in Alexandria . 260 

Doorway of the "La Fayette House" in Alexandria . . . 260 

Looking up the Potomac from Fort Washington .... 308 

Potomac River from Causine's Manor 324 

Quantico, Virginia 344 

Washington from_.the[^Fields'of Abingdon 360 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 



CHAPTER I 

General Survey of the Potomac River — Tidewater and Fresh Water 
— Estuaries of the Chesapeake — The Open Hand, a Map of 
Virginia Tidal Waters — ^The Pictorial Potomac — Current and 
Tide— The Broad Margin of Life— The Eye of History. 

THE Potomac River has two quite dissimilar char- 
acters. From the junction of the West Branch 
and the South Branch, at a point about fifteen 
miles southeast of Cumberland in the state of Maryland, 
to the Great Falls and Little Falls, about ten miles 
above the city of Washington, the river is a compara- 
tively narrow, swift, turbulent, and erratic fresh-w^ater 
stream. It breaks through the Blue Ridge Mountains 
amid the rugged scenery at Harper's Ferry and, as if 
expending itself in one final orgy, dashes first over 
the Great Falls, then over the Little Fall, and soon 
settles into a broad, serene calm as its currents are ab- 
sorbed in the quiet tidal waters. From the Falls to 
its mouth, where its merger with Chesapeake Bay is 
complete, is a distance of one hundred and twenty 
miles. 

Maryland is the north boundary and first West Vir- 
ginia and then Virginia is the south boundary of the 
Potomac from the point where the Branches join until 
the Mountains are pierced at Harper's Ferry. There- 
after Maryland and Virginia face each other across the 
remainder of its length until it reaches the Bay. 
The Potomac above Washington City is a stream. 

1 



2 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Below Washington it is practically an arm of Chesa- 
peake Bay. Its waters are salty for a considerable dis- 
tance above its union with the Bay and they are brakish 
throughout nearly all the rest of its tidal length. If the 
fresh-water feed from its upper reaches above the Falls 
were withdrawn, the one hundred and twenty miles of 
tidewater Potomac would still be there, contracted over 
most of its way to its deep channel, but capable as now, 
in this channel at least, of bearing most of the sea-going 
ships which sail its waters. 

Fresh-water Potomac possesses much wild beauty, 
the charm of unviolated nature, contrasted in less rugged 
portions with domestic stretches where the march of 
civilization across the Alleghenies has left its impression. 
But its banks confine a restless, primitive element, un- 
evenly narrow and deep or wide and shallow, its bed 
sometimes treacherous with rock, sometimes broken by 
islands, its beauty often fascinating, but the beauty of 
primeval nature, of overshadowing mountains and of 
wideflung forests. Occasionally, as indicated, it casts 
off this aspect and flows through valleys of rare pastoral 
loveliness. Its mood, however, is too fickle for com- 
merce and it remains, now as it was in the beginning, 
chiefly a carrier of the flow of the springs and the 
melted snows from the mountainsides to the sea. 

The bearers of civilization over the Alleghenies to 
the Mississippi Valley frequently made the Potomac's 
fresh-water course their pathway. It saw many an 
historic encounter between the aborigines and the 
British colonists, and between the British and French 
in the early fight for dominion of the wilderness south 
of the Great Lakes. During the Civil War armies of 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 3 

both contenders crossed and recrossed its stream before 
and after Gettsyburg. Washington, with the vision of 
the engineer, planned to unite fresh-water and tidewater 
Potomac with a canal around the Falls. It was the 
preliminary to his vaster project of alienating the settler 
of the Mississippi Valley from the Spanish and French 
on the Gulf and binding them to their kinsmen on the 
Atlantic coast by using the united Potomac as the com- 
mercial highway through the mountains to the plains. 

There is another story in the "freshes" of the old 
river, a story all its own, individual, vigorous, and thrill- 
ing, but it is without disparagement to its values that the 
intention here is to dwell on the peculiarly abundant 
human and historic interest found in that calm stretch 
from the Falls to the Bay known as Tidewater Potomac. 

This is the Potomac of the landings — of the old 
wharves supported by the leaning piles and protected 
at their corners by the high cable-lashed clusters of stout 
oak; of matchless romance and history; of the adven- 
turers and planters; of the clipper ships from England 
and the Spanish Main, the frigates of war times, and the 
schooners and sloops and gilling skiffs; of the long 
stretches of leisurely peace over an almost unbroken 
span of three hundred years. The story of tidewater 
Potomac over that period, as found in the old Southern 
plantations which stretch behind its landings with a 
cohesion akin to, if not quite of the same significance as, 
the tight and tidier New England villages about their 
town-halls, is to be the topic of this narrative. The 
landings are frequent, and the way to their pilings leads 
up many a meandering creek. Doubtless calms will 
empty the sails set to carry the interest and the tide of 



4 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

patience will at times run low. But the venture that 
the return of the wind and tide may here prove periodic, 
as it unfailingly is in the river itself, may sustain hope. 

The river is known to many, yet few know it. The 
brief fourteen-mile reach from Washington to Mount 
Vernon has been seen annually by hundreds of thousands 
of pilgrims to this shrine. Scarcely a foreign celebrity 
touches this continent who does not visit the home and 
tomb of Washington, and gaze admiringly on the ma- 
jestic river. A considerable fleet of passenger-carrying 
ships makes the journey between the city of Washing- 
ton on the one hand and the lower landings and Balti- 
more and Norfolk on the other, but almost always by 
night, so that even the traveller on the Potomac does not 
really see it. And so it has gone out of, or rather it has 
not recently come into, the acquaintance of any con- 
siderable number of people. Its beauty, its charm, 
its history, and the greatness of those who have dwelt 
along its shores, have lain like hidden treasure for any 
leisurely adventurer to come upon, in some cases with an 
astonishment which is humiliating. 

That great inland tidal sea called Chesapeake Bay, 
and its estuaries of which tidewater Potomac is the prin- 
cipal one, is locked off from the turbulent Atlantic by 
the sheltering arms of Cape Henry and Cape Charles 
and stretches northward behind the fertile fiats of the 
quaint old Eastern Shore of Maryland and, at its south- 
ern tip, of Virginia, too. 

The right hand spread wide open, the fingers and 
thumb rigidly extended, is graphically suggestive of 
Chesapeake Bay and its four historic rivers. The palm 
of the hand represents the lower bay with Cape Charles 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 5 

and Cape Henry on either side of the wrist where it 
joins the hand. The thumb, if it be unbending, how- 
ever the palmists may insist it signifies lack of imagina- 
tion, will to the imaginative point to the northward 
reaches of the upper bay, where the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland separates it from the ocean on the right 
or east and where on the left Maryland's Western Shore 
is broken by the Patuxent, the Severn with Annapolis 
at its mouth, the Patapsco with Baltimore at the point 
where its fresh waters unite with its salt, and finally 
the lordly Susquehannah gliding majestically under the 
lofty railroad bridges so familiar to travellers between 
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. 

Returning to the extended palm and the lower bay, 
the four fingers typify exactly the four great rivers 
which carry the "sweet waters" of the Blue Ridge from 
the mountainsides to the sea. The little finger repre- 
sents the James with Norfolk at its mouth, historic 
Jamestown almost midway its steamer route, and Rich- 
mond at its head. The third or ring finger points off 
in the direction of the York, suggestive at once of Corn- 
wallis' surrender to Washington. The long second 
finger points north of west to the leisurely route of the 
Rappahannock whose steamers crawl quietly along 
seventy-five miles of tidewater to old Fredericksburg. 
Finally, the first or index finger points west and north 
to the course of the Potomac whose storied waters are 
to furnish the occasion of this narrative. 

Each of these four rivers has its associations with 
particular events and with particular families which 
sometimes actually transcend mere events. To the 
James came John Smith and the English adventurers in 



6 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

1607, thirteen years before the pilgrims came to Ply- 
mouth, and on its banks rose Brandon of the Harrisons, 
Westover of Colonel William Byrd, and Shirley of the 
Carters. In that sandy peninsula or "neck" between 
the James and the York, between the little finger and 
the ring finger of that extended right hand, rose Wil- 
liamsburg, now a sleepy village but once the capital of 
the royal colony of Virginia with its House of Burgesses 
echoing to the voices of Henry, Pendleton, Randolph, 
the Lees, Mason, Washington, and Jefferson, and with 
the alma mater of many early Virginians, the College 
of William and Mary chartered second of all Ameri- 
can seats of learning. The Rappahannock's treasures 
were, and in some cases are still, the plantations and 
mansions of the Carters and Tayloes and Fantleroys 
and other distinguished families, Sabine Hall having 
been the seat of the Carters and Mount Airy of the Tay- 
loe family whose town house in the new capital at the 
head of tidewater Potomac was the affectionately pre- 
served Octagon House, present home of the American 
Institute of Architects. Between the Rappahannock 
and the Potomac, between the middle finger and the 
index finger, lies a peninsula referred to generally in 
colonial history and tradition as the Northern Neck. 
Its entire width from river to river ranges from only 
five to twenty-two miles, and as the Potomac washes 
one whole side, some of its plantations and peoples will 
appear in this story. 

At its mouth the Potomac is said to be seven miles 
wide, and so it is direct from shore to shore. But from 
Point Lookout on the Maryland lip to Smith Point 
on the Virginia shore it is some four miles farther be- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 7 

cause the few miles above the latter point lie in a dis- 
puted zone, and if idle argument is coveted there is much 
to be said as to whether it is bay shore or river shore. 
For many miles above the mouth the contiguous land 
is so flat that the low shores magnify the water stretches 
and suggest a vastness which is not really there. Sel- 
dom do these watersides rise above twenty feet on either 
side, and in places the rise is much less. Often it seems 
as if only the trees, most often pines, raise the shore line 
into the vision of the traveller in a small boat in mid- 
channel. When passing over Kettle Bottom Shoals, 
some thirty miles above, between the openings of St. 
Clement's Creek on the north and Nomini Creek on the 
south, some faint lines of the "second river bottom" 
banks reveal themselves in the hinterland and on the 
Virginia side they come boldly to the water's edge in 
the abrupt rise of Nomini Cliffs. These at their highest 
reach one hundred and fifty feet, an altitude not chal- 
lenged again at the water's edge except in the narrows 
below the Falls. The effect, however, is mild unless 
one be in a small boat and nose in shore under their 
frowning heights, when sharp contrast produces an effect 
so easily modified by perspective from mid-channel. 
The flat aspect of the land nearer the river's mouth is 
seen no more above this point. The waters gradually 
narrow to four and three miles, and sometimes even to 
one mile when in sight of the Capital, which gives to 
the rolling shores a more encompassing and protecting 
effect. For the most part, the shores themselves are 
low, perhaps forty feet at most, but the bottom lands 
stretch back to rises of fron;i three to four times this 
elevation. The ridges are not always retiring and 



8 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

sometimes, especially higher up along the course, they 
rise a little boldly nearer the water's edge. In such 
places the winding channel unfolds most pleasing pano- 
ramas and the bold banks move apart in revelation of 
newer and newer vistas. 

But the scenery about the landings is scarcely ever 
stimulating. It is gentle and kindly, graceful and 
smiling, leisurely and deliberate. The Potomac is an 
aristocrat among rivers; usually benignant, yet with the 
easily assumed fury of a petty tyrant, especially when a 
nor'wester drives down a Virginia cove and lashes the 
surface of the broad waters. Then its blues and greens 
grow angry black and its mischievous whitecaps drive 
the small craft scurrying to the lee of a sheltering point 
or into the quiet of a shallow inlet, and even compel 
larger craft to furl their sails and drop anchor on the 
channel banks. This does not happen often. The 
more habitual aspect of the river is peaceful and 
benevolent. 

The current of most of tidewater Potomac is negli- 
gible and imperceptible. The tides move majestically 
in and out twice daily, to be recognized by the three- 
foot margin of damp about the piles which support the 
landings or on the sandy beach, by the tilt of the channel 
marks, or by the ease or strain of the oar pulling before 
it. Along shore the water in fair weather is nearly 
always clear. Over the pebbly bottom, as through a 
pane of glass, one sees the nervous, darting schools of 
young fish, the more deliberate turtle, or perhaps the 
sinuous water-snake. In the channel the waters are 
more opaque, and if they do not reveal a white floor 
underneath they nearly always snatch the colours of a 








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POTOMAC LANDINGS 9 

smiling sky and so they are true to their famihar name 
of *'the blue Potomac." For the most part the move- 
ment on the river is under the white sails of the gillers, 
the oystermen and the woodmen, and the occasional 
square rig of an ice carrier beating around from Maine. 
Less frequently a nebulous shadow of smoke betrays 
one of the daily steamers poking about from creek to 
creek and from landing to landing. 

The traveller standing well forward under the flag- 
stafiF with its beating halyards, the pale wisp from a 
single smoke-stack trailing low behind, finds the height 
diminishes the hull to a mere speck on the far-reaching 
river, and to him the green, billowy shores, the occa- 
sional white pillars of the planters' mansions, the always 
numerous sails, the decaying and usually deserted land- 
ings, and above all the unbroken serenity of water, land, 
and sky, speak the broad margin to life along the Poto- 
mac. 

In point of colonization it is one of our earliest settled 
waterways. The significant events which have trans- 
pired on its waters or on its shores mark it in interest 
second to no other American river. The men who were 
born along its way or settled there, and there developed 
their immortal careers, give it a distinction shared by 
no other river in this hemisphere. Not only is it, 
throughout its tidal length, hallowed with matchless 
historic figures but at the tidal head stands the city 
which is the epitome of our national life. 

The old landings themselves indeed reach out from 
the shores of yesterdays. If life is somewhat faded, at 
least it is perfumed with the lavender of priceless tradi- 
tions and achievements and romance. Looked at 



10 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

through the eyes of history focused ou the old chronicles, 
the colonial records, the parish vestry books, the old 
statutes and wills and diaries and letters, the vivid 
features of the early days assert themselves ; the canoes 
of the Indians dart again along the river; the shallops 
of John Smith and the other adventurers sail its course; 
the pinnaces of Lord Baltimore search its shores and find 
a haven; the square-rigged clippers from England bring 
luxuries and dainties to the planters and their dames; 
the landings bend and creak or straighten and steady 
under the tobacco cargoes; the plantations renew the 
life of plenty and ease and splendour; the big-wigged 
cavaliers and the brocaded ladies people the lofty porti- 
coes and the broad halls of the mansions; the candles 
twinkle and the fiddles scrape the measures of the 
minuet and reel; the foxes fly before the pink-coated 
hunting squires; the coachman's whip cracks over 
leader and wheel horse as the coaches roll off to weddings 
and routs; and many is the grave discussion and elo- 
quent appeal as Independence is determined and the 
Constitution of the new nation is framed. 

The story of tidewater Potomac is a tale of all the 
elements which are woven into the romance and splen- 
dour of the nation's history. 



CHAPTER II 

Explorers — Origin of the River's Name — The First White Man — 
The Spaniards — Captain John Smith — His Cruise in an Open 
Barge — Old Indian Towns — Boyish Harry Spelman — His 
Flight with the King — His Tragic Death — Captain Samuel 
Argoll, the Rugged — Pocahontas on the Potomac — Captain 
Henry Fleet, the Shrewd. 

THE story of the Potomac River, in common with 
the stories of most great rivers, begins where 
the river leaves off. It begins not at its source 
but at its mouth. 

The name is derived from an Indian word which has 
passed through the mutations of three centuries of 
varied spelling. It first appeared in John Smith's 
narrative of his voyage in the Chesapeake and its tribu- 
taries and on his admirable map of tidewater Virginia.* 
On this map it is spelled Patawomeck. In the text the 
variation begins at once and persists with abandon. 
Other writers — of grants, deeds, wills, and letters, as 
well as of reports and "narratives" and histories — took 
up the game of varying the spelling with amusing re- 
sults until about one hundred years ago when appar- 
ently by general consent the present familiar form was 
finally accepted. 

There are two lonely instances of early maps showing 
the river under other names. One of these maps, said 



* This map is reproduced inside the cover of this volume, 

11 



1« POTOMAC LANDINGS 

to have been made in England by a surveyor sent over 
by the King in IGIO, displays four names for the four 
principal rivers of tidewater Virginia, which appears 
to have been an arbitrary compliment to royalty. 
The James River is shown as King's River, the York 
as Prince's River, the Rappahannock as Queen's River, 
and the Potomac as Elisabeth River for the princess of 
that name. These names survive, however, only on 
this map. The other instance was Farrer's map pub- 
lished in 1651, on which it is called the "Maryland 
River." 

It is a nice question whether the name Potomac, or 
Patawomeck as it first appears, was given to the river 
by reason of the most powerful band of Indians on its 
shores who bore the same name, or whether these In- 
dians took their name from the river they dominated. 
Inquiry into the meaning of the word inclines to the 
belief that the river was named after the Indians. 
Heckewelder shifted the original spelling slightly into 
a word meaning "they are coming to water, drawing 
near in crafts and canoes." Father Jacker, a Jesuit 
student, derives the word from the Odjibwe word 
"Botomey" which specifically means swarms of newly 
hatched fish, which he freely adapts in this connection 
"river full of swarms of small fry — where fishes spawn 
in shoals." Other interpretations are "river of swans" 
and "the burning pine, resembling a council fire." 
These interpretations pale, however, before the more 
recent and searching studies of Tooker who, in his 
studies in Indian names, identifies the word as an 
Algonquin term, "Patow-om-eke," meaning "to bring 
again, they go and come," or by freer rendering "travel- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS IS 

ing traders, or peddlers." To the obvious question, 
*' traders and peddlers of what? ", he answers with strong 
support that they mined the steatite deposits up Occo- 
quon Creek and bartered this valuable mineral up and 
down the river. Hence it would appear that the 
Potomac was named after a particular band of Indian 
traders on its shores. 

The identity of the first white man to look upon the 
waters of the Potomac is left to conjecture. It is be- 
lieved by some that the early Spanish explorers, who 
made voyages into the Chesapeake between 1565 and 
1570, actually sailed up the Potomac as far as Occoquon. 
The narratives of these voyages are not easily accessible 
and those who would yield priority in the Potomac to 
the Spanish base their contention, in part at least, on the 
phonetic similarity between "Axacan" of the Spanish 
missionary chronicles and "Occoquon" the name of the 
Indian town and creek on the Potomac. These chron- 
icles tell in detail of a tragic trip by land to Axacan 
made by the missionaries in 1570, the treachery of their 
guide, and the massacre of the whole party. The next 
year a relief expedition was sent from Florida to "St. 
Mary's bay which is 37° N" (the Chesapeake). It 
reached "Axacan, " but it was too late to take back more 
than the story of the tragedy. 

There is somewhat less conjectural evidence to sup- 
port the belief that if the Potomac had not been explored 
by the English as early as 1585, its existence at least was 
known to them at that time. The evidence survives 
in an early map, made by John White, an artist who 
accompanied one of Sir Walter Raleigh's Virginia ex- 
peditions, and preserved in the British Museum. The 



14 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

crude lines of this map show knowledge of at least the 
first four rivers on the west side of Chesapeake Bay 
(Chefepiooc Sinus — ). The relation of the Bay and its 
tributaries to the points of the compass is just ninety 
degrees off, but the outlines of the drawing are so accu- 
rate as to seem to be the product of actual exploration, 
although none of the tributaries of the Bay are named. 
The meanderings of the James are easily recognized. 
Next above is a remarkably exact drawing of the York 
with the Mattapony and the Pamunky at its head. 
The mouth only of the Rappahannock is sketched. 
Above this is the Potomac and so much of its direction 
as is not concealed by the elaborate decorative medallion 
indicates actual acquaintance with its lines. Whether 
White drew from his own acquaintance with the Poto- 
mac, or from the relation of other explorers, or from 
the accounts of the Indians, seems to be a matter for 
conjecture. 

The first white explorer, known definitely to have 
seen the Potomac, was none other than the valiant and 
versatile Captain John Smith, who not only saw and 
sailed the river, but after one voyage made a map thereof 
which is astonishingly accurate, and by his own hand 
and by the hands of "Walter Russell, Doctor of 
Physicke; Thomas Momford, Gentleman; and Anas 
Todkill, Soldier," left the earliest written, at least the 
earliest surviving, description of the river. 

Captain Smith arrived in Virginia early in 1607. The 
following year, as soon as the spring planting had been 
accomplished, he set out to explore the Chesapeake. 
The voyage was made in *'an open Barge neare three 
tuns burthen" with fourteen adventurers aboard in 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 15 

addition to the Captain. They entered the Potomac 
on the sixteenth of June. 

Along the first thirty miles they saw no inhabitants. 
Then they encountered an ambuscade "to the number 
of three or foure thousand Salvages, so strongly paynted 
grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling and crying as 
so many spirits from hell could not have shewed more 
terrible." The powder and bullets of the English sur- 
prised the savages, however, and quickly intimidated 
them. Farther along other Indians displayed an 
equally warlike opposition. But in the upper part of 
tidewater the natives were more friendly and, according 
to the Captain, "did their best to content us." 

Smith found the river "navigable one hundred and 
fortie miles," a reasonably accurate statement under 
the circumstances. But he was nearer the truth when 
he described it as "fed with many sweet Rivers and 
Springs which fall from the bordering Hils. These Hils 
many of them are planted and yeeld no lesse plentie 
and varietie of fruit than the River exceedeth with 
abundance of fish." He found the shores inhabited on 
both sides, the natives living in communities called 
towns, the largest of which, Patowmeck Town, boasting 
two hundred fighting men. The proportion of warriors 
to women, children, and other men has been estimated 
as three to ten which gave the Patowmecks a general 
population of more than 650 inhabitants. 

"Having gone so high as we could with the bote," 
says the Smith chronicle, "we met divers Salvages in 
Canowes, well laden with the flesh of Beares, Deere 
and other beasts, whereof we had part, here we found 
mighty Rocks, growing in some places above the ground 



10 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

as high as the shrubbery trees, and divers other soUd 
quarries of divers tinctures." It is not difficult by this 
description to recognize a side trip up one of the tribu- 
tary creeks. 

Resuming the main channel of the river, under the 
direction of the guides furnished by "the king of Pata- 
womeke" they set out for "a little river called Qui- 
yough" which from its position on Smith's map has 
been identified variously as Aquia Creek and Occoquon 
Creek. Etymologists have unblushingly undertaken 
feats more daring than to harmonize the sound of 
"Quiyough" with that of "Aquia," but in this case the 
explorers were searching for mines, or quarries, which 
have later been located on the upper Occoquon. 

They found the mine "a great Rocky mountain like 
Antimony," says Smith, wherein the Indians "digged a 
great hole with shells & hachets: and hard by it, runneth 
a fayre brooke of Christel-like water, where they wash 
away the dross and keepe the remainder, which they 
put in little baggs and sell it all over the country to 
paint their bodyes, faces or Idols; which makes them 
looke like Blackmores dusted over with silver." 

Although the search for this mine was one of the 
objects of this cruise up the Potomac, all they got 
"proved of no value." Among the other occasions 
given for the adventure was to learn if possible "whether 
the bay was endlesse or how far it extended," a hint of 
the then still prevalent hope to find the short cut through 
to India. Instead of which, in addition to a few "Be- 
vers, Otters, Beares, Martins and minkes" they found 
"that aboundance of fish, lying so thick with their 
heads above the water, as for want of nets (our barge 







(Jcc(KiU(jN Ckkek Aisom: tiii; \'iij,a(:k 




A Stretch of Potomac Beach 

At Cedar Grove, in King George County, Virginia. The tide-lapped sand 
swings in a gentle curve toward Metouikin Point, directly east of Maryland 
Pouit. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 17 

driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them 
with a frying pan : but we found it a bad instrument to 
catch fish with: neither better fish, more plenty, nor 
more variety for smal fish, had any of us ever seen in 
any place so swimming in the water, but they are not 
to be caught by frying pans." Having come to this 
definite conclusion, it is interesting to find that when, by 
reason of the ebbtide, their boat was left aground in 
the shallow waters of the channel bank, the Captain, 
"sporting himself e" by nailing the fish to the bottom 
with his sword, set all his companions to fishing in this 
same original manner, "and thus we tooke more in one 
houre than we could eate in a day." 

Smith returned to the James River and there is no 
record that he came again into the Potomac. He 
appears not only to have been the first white man on 
the river, but he was also its first historian and its first 
cartographer of any degree of accuracy. He wrote 
from report as well as from observation, and if the 
accuracy with which he sets out the course of the river 
be any token of his accuracy in setting out the first 
census of the Indian inhabitants, then a considerable 
dependence can be placed on his information as to the 
state of the river in 1608. 

"The fourth river is called Patawomeke, 6 or 7 myles 
in breadth," he writes in his Historic of Virginia. "It is 
inhabited on both sides. First at the very entrance is 
Wighcocomoco & hath some 130 men, beyond them 
Sekacawone with 30. The Onawanient with 100. And 
the Patawomekes more than 200. Here doth the river 
divide itself into three or four convenient branches. 
The greatest of the least is called Quiyough, trending 



18 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

northwest, but the river itselfe turneth Northeast, and 
is still a navigable streame. On the Westerne side of 
this bought is Tauxenant with 40 men." Returning to 
the mouth of the river and setting out the Indian settle- 
ments on the Maryland side, he continues: "On the 
north of this river is Secowomoco with 40. Somewhat 
further Potapaco with 20. In the East part is Pama- 
caeack with 60. After Moyowance with 100. And 
lastly, Nacotchtanke with 80. The river above this 
place maketh his passage down a low pleasant valley 
overshadowed in many places with high rocky moun- 
tains; from whance distill innumerable sweet and pleas- 
ant springs." 

By comparison with his map of the Chesapeake and 
its tributaries, and having in mind that his census refers 
to fighting men, it is possible to give these localities by 
their modern names with the total original population 
of each. Wighcocomoco (a name surviving as Wye- 
comico, Wicomico, and Yeocomico) with its 433 men, 
women, and children, was on the Virginia side at the 
very mouth of the river. Sekacawone with 100 inhabi- 
tants was on the south side of the Coan River. Ona- 
wanient with 333 inhabitants appears to have been on 
the north side of Nomini Creek. The largest settle- 
ment on the river was that of the Patawomekes with 666 
inhabitants, but there is uncertainty as to its location. 
In general this has been given as the modern Marlboro 
Point on the north of the entrance to Potomac Creek, 
Tauxenant with a population of 133 is placed on the 
map at the head of a Virginia creek which in relative 
position and exact form tallies with that point of land 
formed by the confluence of Pohick and Accotink creeks 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 19 

at the head of Gunston Cove. On the Maryland side 
he locates Secowomoco, with a population of 133, on 
the east side of the Wicomico River. Potapaco, with 
67, is easily recognizable by sound as well as by its posi- 
tion on the map as Port Tobacco, a name apparently 
anglicized from this Indian word, or possibly from 
another similar word, "Pertafacca," whose meaning 
would be descriptive of its position in the hollow of the 
hills. Smith's map is not suflSciently accurate in out- 
line and directions from Maryland Point to Washington 
City to make it possible definitely to locate Pamacaeack 
with its 200 inhabitants, but it was apparently between 
Mattawomen Creek and Pomunkey Creek. The Moyo- 
wance with 333 inhabitants appear to have been resi- 
dent somewhere near the later Marshall Hall and the 
Nacotchtanke with 267 are shown at the head of what 
appears to be Piscataway Creek. 

Indian community life is graphically told of by Hugh 
Jones in his "Present State of Virginia" in these quaint 
terms: "As to the Government and life of the Indians, 
they live in a kind of patriarchial Manner, varioufly 
diverfifyed, not unlike the Tribes and Families men- 
tioned in the Old Teftament. Every fmall Town is a 
petty Kingdom govern'd by an abfolute Monarch, 
affifted and advifed by his Great Men, felected out of 
the graveft, oldeft, braveft, and richeft; if I may allow 
their Dear-Skins, Peak and Roenoak (black and white 
shells with Holes, which they wear on Strings about 
their Arms and Necks) to be wealth. 

"Sometimes there are general Emperors, who have 
feveral petty Kingdoms in fome meafure under their 
Protection and Power. [Such an one was Powhattan 



ZO POTOMAC LANDINGS 

who ruled all tidewater Virginia including the towns on 
the Potomac] 

"They dwell in Towns fome twenty, fome a hundred 
Miles, and fome farther from one another, each town 
having a, particular Jargon and particular Cuftoms; 
though for the moft Part they agree in certain Signs, 
Expreffions, and Manners. . . . 

"They cohibit in fome hundreds of Families, and fix 
upon the richeft Ground to build their wooden Houfes, 
which they place in a circular Form, meanly defended 
with Pales, and covered with Bark; the middle Area 
(or Forum) being for common ufes and publick Occa- 
fions. The Women in order to plant their Indian Corn 
and Tobacco (to clear the Ground of Trees) cut the Bark 
round; fo that they die and don't fhade the Ground, 
and decay in time. 

"Whenever we meet with an old Indian Field, or place 
where they have lived, we are fure of the beft Ground. 
They all remove their Habitation for fear of their 
Enemies, or for the Sake of Game and Provifion. . . . 

"All the Country is but one continued Foreft, with 
patches of fome hundred Acres here and there cleared, 
either being formerly feated by Indians, or the trees 
being burnt in Fire-Hunting, or cut down for Planta- 
tions." 

Smith had been gone but a year when there next ap- 
peared one of the truly romantic figures among all the 
early adventurers on the river. This was Harry Spel- 
man, scarcely more than a boy, the third son of Sir 
Henry Spelman, of Congham, Norfolk. "Beinge in 
difpleafuer of my friendes and defirous to fee other 
countryes," he confessed in his "Relation" of his Vir- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 21 

ginia adventures, he left England and reached the 
James River late in 1609. The next year while the 
King of the Potomacs was on a visit to his sovereign 
Powhatan an interest sprang up between the visiting 
Indian Chief and the English boy, and when the former 
started north the young Englishman ran away and fol- 
lowed him across the wilderness to his home on the 
Potomac. This fidelity sealed their friendship and the 
King of the Potomacs shielded the runaway from the 
anger of the mighty Powhatan. 

Thereafter for many years Spelman enjoyed the 
friendship of the Indians on the Potomac, traded up and 
down the river, and became, on the testimony of Cap- 
tain John Smith himself, "one of the best Interpreters 
in the Land." On one of his last trips "for trucke" 
Spelman had on his bark, the Elisabeth, one Captain 
Croshaw, another trader of experience, who remained 
with the Potomacs when Spelman and his pinnace re- 
turned down to the lower bay. Shortly after Croshaw's 
companions departed the King of the Potomacs re- 
ceived a bribe from Opechancanough to kill the trader. 
The friendly relations between Croshaw and the Poto- 
macs is witnessed by the fact that the King gave him 
information of the bribe, where at the doughty Captain 
replied that the threats of Opechancanough "he feared 
not, nor for his favoured cared, but would nakedly fight 
with him or any of his, with their own swords." 

In 1623, while on an expedition into the Potomac to 
trade for grain and provisions, Spelman fell a victim to 
an angry condition between the Indians and the whites 
in the southern part of the colony. He had ascended to 
a point near the site of the present city of Washington. 



22 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

With all but five of his ship's company he had gone 
ashore when natives slipped off in their canoes and 
boarded his ship. One of the sailors, to frighten the 
intruders, discharged "a peece of Ordnance" quite at 
random. Thereupon the Indians leaped overboard dis- 
tracted with fear, left their canoes behind, and swam 
for the shore. Apparently the sailors had saved the day. 
Presently, however, they heard a great noise among the 
savages on shore and saw a man's head thrown down 
the bank. It was Harry Spelman's. But how he " was 
surprised or slaine is uncertaine," and dropping into 
rhyme the historian of this incident adds w ith a comfort- 
able philosophy: 

"Thus things proceed and vary not a jot, 
Whether we know them, or we know them not." 

Captain Samuel Argoll, who appeared on the Potomac 
within a few months after young Spelman joined the 
Potomacs in 1610, although reputed a seasoned mariner, 
was at the time under thirty years of age. His great 
exploit was performed on a later trip thither in March- 
April, 1613. He described it in a letter sent back to 
England in the month of June following. He had been 
trading in the river. "While I was in this businesse," 
he said, "I was told by certaine Indians, my friends, 
that the Great Powhatans Daughter Pokahuntis was 
with the great King Patowomeck, whether I presently 
repaired, resolving to possesse myself e of her by any 
stratagem that I could use, for the ransoming of so 
many Englishmen as were prisoners with Powhatan : as 
also to get such armes and tooles, as hee, and other In- 
dians had got by murther and stealing from others 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 23 

of our Nation, with some quantatie of Corne, for the 
Colonies reHefe. So soone as I came to an anchor be- 
fore the Towne, I manned my Boate and sent on shoare, 
for the King of Pastancy and Ensigne Swift (whom I 
had left as a pledge of our love and truce, the Voyage 
before) who presently came and brought my pledge with 
him: whom after I had received, I brake the matter to 
this King, and told him, that if he did not betray 
Pokohuntis into my hands; we would be no longer 
brothers nor friends. Hee alleaged, that if hee should 
undertake this businesse, then Powhatan would make 
warrs upon him and his people; but upon my promise, 
that I would joyne with him against him, hee repaired 
presently to his brother, the great King of Patowomeck, 
who being made acquainted with the matter, called his 
Counsell together: and after some few houres delibera- 
tion, concluded rather to deliver her into my hands, 
then lose my friendship: so presently, he betrayed her 
into my Boat, wherein I carried her aboord my ship. 
This done, an Indian was dispatched to Powhatan, to 
let him know, that I had taken his Daughter: and if he 
would send home the Englishmen (whom he had detained 
in slaverie, with such armes and tooles, as the Indians 
had gotten, and stolne) and also a great quantitie of 
Corne, that then, he should have his daughter restored, 
otherwise not. This newes much grieved this great 
King, yet, without delay, he returned the messenger with 
this answer. That he desired me to use his daughter 
well, and bring my ship into his River, and there he 
would give mee my demands: which being performed, 
I should deliver him his Daughter, and we should be 
friends. 



24 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

*' Having received this answere, I presently departed 
from Patowomeck, being the 13. of Aprill and repayred 
with all speed to Sir T. Gates, to know of him upon what 
condition he would conclude this peace, and what he 
would demand: to whom I also delivered my prisoner, 
towards whose ransome within few days, this King sent 
liome seven of our men, who seemed to be very joyfull 
for thet they were freed from the slavery and feare of 
cruell murther, which they daily before lived in. They 
brought also three pieces, one broad Axe, and a long 
Whip-Saw, and one Canoe of Corne. I beeing quit of 
my prisoner, w^ent forward with the Frigat which I had 
left at Point Comfort, and finished her." 

The last of these wandering adventurers to identify 
himself conspicuously with the Potomac before the 
coming of the settlers and civilization was Captain 
Henry Fleet. He was a rougher character than the boy- 
ish Spelman or the shrewd Argoll. The old chronicles 
yield a sketchy figure of him. During a long life as 
trader, interpreter, and intermediary between Indians 
and whites the main chance seems to have been the 
keystone of his ethics. He was at the service of all fac- 
tions, and he appears to have made small shift of playing 
Indian against white, white against Indian, or stirring 
the pot of earliest Maryland and Virginia differences 
so that he might help himself to the skimmings. For all 
that he had his virtues. He was a shrewd trader, had 
the confidence of the Indians, and made himself invalua- 
ble to the somewhat reluctant whites. Above all, he 
knew the river as no white man before him. His ships, 
he owned three, were for years ahnost the solitary sails 
to cheer the Indians who knew their coming each spring 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 25 

and summer meant English goods and tools, trinkets and 
liquors, in exchange for the last crop of corn and the furs 
accumulated during a winter's hunting. 

Fleet first came into the Potomac on the Tiger, the 
ship which took Spelman to the head of tidewater on 
his last and fatal voyage. He was among the twenty- 
one men who landed, and although his life was spared 
he was made a prisoner and held in captivity for several 
years before he was ransomed and resumed his roving 
life. Later he described the neighbourhood of his 
captivity, obviously near the site of the present capital 
of the United States, in his diary: "This place without 
question is the most pleasant and healthful in all this 
country, and most convenient for habitation, the air 
temperate in summer, and not violent in winter. It 
aboundeth in all manner of fish. The Indians in one 
night will commonly catch thirty sturgeons in a place 
where the river is not above three fathom broad. And 
as for deer, buffaloes, bears, turkeys, the woods do 
swarm with them, and the soil is exceedingly fertile, but 
above this place the country is rocky and mountainous 
like Cannida. The 27th of June I manned my shallop, 
and went up with the flood, the tide rising four feet, at 
this place. We had not rowed above three miles, but 
we might hear the Falls to roar, about six miles distant." 
Certainly four feet was a record tide for this neighbour- 
hood. As for the roar of the Falls being audible at six 
miles, perhaps the scene was quieter and the ear of the 
trader was keener than ears are to-day. Fleet will 
appear briefly later to play a striking role in the selec- 
tion of the site for the first white man's settlement on 
the river. 



26 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Captain John Smith, Henry Spelman, and Captain 
Samuel Argoll all sent home graphic accounts of the 
Potomac, its natural beauties, its deep waters and snug 
harbours, its quantities of fish and game, its endless 
forests "with the goodliest Trees for Masts that may bee 
found else-where in the world," and its fertile soil and its 
abundant wild products. These narratives were quickly 
published, in the main as propaganda to stimulate the 
disaffected, the speculative, and the adventurous to go 
out to the American colonies. They were singularly 
truthful. The occasional statements which may ap- 
pear highly coloured took their hue less from the imagina- 
tion of the propagandist than from the enthusiasm of 
the adventurer and the genuine contrasts which were 
found between the climate, country, and resources of 
England and of tidewater Potomac. 



CHAPTER III 

Pioneers — Lord Baltimore's Colony — The Ark and the Dove — 
Governor Leonard Calvert at Piscataway — Founding the 
Capital of Maryland at St. Mary's — The Great Grant of the 
Northern Neck — Colonizing on the Coan — Acquiring Title to 
Virgin Land — Importance of the Creeks — Forest Clearing 
and Cabin Building — Contests with Primitive Nature — Birds, 
Beasts, and Fish — Indian Problems — Father White — Mar- 
garet Brent. 

CLOSE upon the explorers came the settlers. 
The first white colonization on the Potomac was 
made in 1634 on the arrival of Leonard Calvert 
and his company in two ships, the Ark and the Dove^ 
sent from England by his brother, Cecelius Calvert, 
Lord Baltimore, to settle on the north shore of the 
river, on lands for which he had a royal grant from King 
Charles I. 

During the interval of twenty-six years between the 
appearance of the first known white explorer and the 
first white colonist, the Indians remained in undisputed 
possession of their lands. If along the shores there were 
fishermen's huts or trappers' cabins the old chronicles 
do not report them. Production seems to have been 
left to the Indian, and the white engaged himself wholly 
in shipping and trade until the arrival of Lord Balti- 
more's adventurers. The waters were probably un- 
disturbed by boats larger than the barks and shallops 
of the traders who tacked from creek to creek gathering 
corn and furs and returning to the lower bay to trans- 

87 



28 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

fer their light cargoes to larger freighting ships which 
crossed the Atlantic. When the Ark of three hundred 
tons and the Dove of five hundred tons appeared in the 
river the natives were terrorized and flew to arms. On 
seeing the larger ship the scouts reported that the whites 
had come *'in a canow as bigg as an Hand, with so 
many men as trees were in a wood." In spite of the 
limited size of the boats which the early traders brought 
into the river, however, they appear to have conducted 
a trade of no mean proportions, for it was advertised 
in England in 1G33 that a certain merchant had the year 
before exported from the Potomac alone beaver skins to 
the value of 40,000 gold crowns. 

Leonard Calvert entered the Potomac on March 5 
and sailed up about thirty miles, in the terms of one of 
the first letters to be sent back to England, "till wee 
came to Heron Hands, fo called from the infinite 
fwarmes of that fowle there. The firft of thofe Hands 
we called Saint Clement's [now Blackistone after later 
owners]: the fecond Saint Katherine's; and the third 
Saint Cicilie's. We took land firft in St. Clement's 
which is compaffed about with a fhallow water and 
admits no acceffe without wading; here by the over- 
turning of a fhallop, the maids which had been wafhing 
at the land were almoft drowned, befide the loffe of 
much linnen, and amongft the rest I loft mine which 
is a very maine loffe in thefe parts." Here they felled 
a tree, made it into a rude cross which they set up and, 
continues the letter, *'wee carried it to the place ap- 
pointed for it. The Governor and Commiffioners put- 
ting their hands firft unto it, and then the reft of the 
chief adventurers. At the place prepared wee all kneeled 



POTOMAC LANDINGS «9 

downe, & faid certaine Prayers; taking poffeffion of 
the Country for Our Saviour and for our fovereigne 
Lord the King of England." 

Advised not to land for good and all until arriving at 
an understanding with the Indian Emperor at Piscata- 
way Governor Calvert took two pinnaces, and sailed 
up the river. The party touched at Patoemack Towne 
and thence continued to Piscataway, "as a noble feat 
as could be wifhed and as good ground as I fuppofe is 
in all Europe," which gives its ancient name to the creek 
which spreads eastward in full view of Mount Vernon, 
about fourteen miles south of the present national cap- 
ital. On the way, with good fortune, they fell in with 
no other than Captain Henry Fleet, who attached him- 
self to the party as guide and interpreter. Once at 
their destination, while negotiations advanced between 
the Governor and the Emperor, the natives admired 
the white men's boat "which was brought in pieces out 
of England," and the visitors who could understand 
found it amusing to hear the Indians' comments, for 
they "called it a Canow, and wondering where so great 
a tree grew that made it, conceiving it to be made of 
one piece, as their canows are." 

If Calvert fancied Piscataway as the site for his 
capital, since it had great natural advantages and beauty 
and was nearer the centre of the royal grant, he received 
none too pressing an invitation to remain there. So the 
visit of state concluded, the party sailed back to their 
original anchorage off St. Clement's Island and on the 
advice of the accomplished Fleet the whole company 
dropped down the Potomac seventeen miles farther 
where, on the northern side, they found an estuary which 



30 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

stretched inland in a northerly direction for six miles. 
This they named St. Mary's River and on the high 
ground on the eastern bank about five miles from, but 
in full view of, the Potomac, "amid the booming of 
cannon," they established the capital of the colony and 
the first white settlement on the Potomac. Their 
colony had already been named Maryland in honour of 
Henrietta Maria, wife of the royal grantor, Charles I, 
and the town they now called St. Mary's. 

The Baltimore enterprise introduced two new ele- 
ments into the life of the American colonies. One was 
political, for the Proprietor of Maryland ruled under a 
grant which privileged him to erect manors and * to 
appoint lords thereof who were empowered to hold 
"courts leet and baron." The other new element was 
religious. The Lords Baltimore were Roman Catho- 
lics and in establishing their colony they sought free- 
dom of religious worship for those of their own faith, 
a privilege they did not withhold from others of any 
faith whatever. It was therefore on the banks of the 
Potomac, at its very mouth and by its first white settlers, 
that freedom of conscience was first established on this 
continent. 

Father White, missionary and chronicler, wrote home: 
"This [the Potomac] is the sweetest and greatest river I 
have ever scene, so that the Thames is but a little finger 
to it. There are noe marshes or swampes about it, 
but solid firme ground, with great variety of woode, not 
choaked up with undershrubs, but commonly so farre 
distant from each other as a coach and fower horses 
may travele without molestation. The soyle is so 
excellent that we cannot sett downe a foot, but tread on 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 31 

Strawberries, raspires, fallen mulberrie vines, acchorns, 
walnutts, saxafras, etc. and those in the wildest woods. 
The ground is commonly a black mould above, and a 
foot within ground of a readish colour. All is high 
woods except where the Indians have cleared for corne. 
It abounds with delicate springs which are our best 
drinks. Birds diversely feathered there are infinite, 
as eagles, swans, hemes, geese, bitters, duckes, partridge 
read, blew, partie coloured, and the like, by which will 
appeare, the place abounds not alone with profit, but 
also with pleasure." 

The province, of which St. Mary's was made the 
capital, was bounded on almost its entire southern 
border by the Potomac Kiver, on the east by the Atlan- 
tic Ocean, and extended to the north so far as the south- 
ern boundary of William Penn's colony of Pennsylvania, 
including all of Chesapeake Bay, and westward to limits 
which were, in the sweeping terms of the noble grantee, 
"an almost boundless continent which extends to the 
China Sea." This was referred to as "probably the 
largeft eftate'in the World belonging to anyone Perfon 
that is not a Prince," and the Proprietor held it of the 
crown at the price of "the delivery of two Indian arrows 
yearly at the palace of Windsor and the fifth of all gold 
and silver mined." 

The clearings for the first cabins and first plantings 
at St. Mary's were ready made for the settlers, for they 
established themselves on thirty miles of land already 
cleared and cultivated by the Indians from whom they 
purchased it, "to avoid all occasion of dislike and colour 
of wrong. . . . for axes, hoes, cloth, and hatchets." 
It is interesting to notice these little niceties of obliga- 



32 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

tion. They are not frequent. So soon they are done 
for one wonders what they were begun for. 

Having made a beginning in housing themselves 
against the elements and in starting their crops, with 
the Englishman's instinct for order, they at once set 
about making laws for themselves. The first Assembly 
for Maryland sat at St. Mary's February 26, 1635, in 
less than a year after the first shipment of colonists had 
sailed up the Potomac. This immediately precipitated 
trouble with the Proprietor who claimed for himself 
the exclusive right to originate legislation. He was at 
the double disadvantage, however, of being separated 
from his recalcitrant colony by a broad ocean and of 
having to deal with a group of settlers whose dominant 
idea in the adventure and sacrifice they had made was 
freedom. Their perseverance in refusing to abide by 
any legislation except of their own framing prevailed, 
and the Proprietor acquiesced with the best grace possi- 
ble. Thereafter the Proprietorship was in its legislative 
aspect a fiction, and the Assembly at St. Mary's made 
its own laws although the Governor continued to be 
appointed by the Proprietor in England. 

It was some time after the founding of St. Mary's 
that attention was given to the south shore of the 
Potomac as a site for settlement. The Potomac River 
was reserved by the lower Virginia settlements as 
merely a waterway into a savage wilderness to bear 
occasional trading and "trucking" expeditions. These 
settlements to the south were mostly confined to the 
James River and crept north slowly and almost entirely 
along the western shore of the lower Bay. Two early 
*' Lists of the Number of Men, Women and Children" 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 33 

in the Virginia colony survive, one of 1623 and one of 
1634. Neither of these Hsts mentions a colonist on or 
anywhere near the Potomac. 

The adventurers among the English nobility had 
paid little attention to these remote regions on the 
south shore, for it was only after the Baltimore colony 
had been established on the north shore for upward 
of five years that the King was petitioned for a grant 
of land on the opposite side of the river. The petitioners 
asked for all the land between the Rappahannock and 
the Potomac and noted that it was "not yet inhabited.'* 
This vast domain has from the beginning of Virginia 
maintained an integrity and an identity all its own and 
has been known from its earliest settlement as The 
Northern Neck. Nothing came of this petition, but the 
idea was vaguely alive, and after another decade King 
Charles II, in exile on the continent, granted this same 
entire neck of land between these rivers "up to their 
heads" to several Lords, Lord Hop ton; Henry, Lord 
Jermyn, afterward Earl of St. Albans; John, Lord 
Culpepper; Sir John, afterward Lord Berkeley of 
Stratton; Sir William Morton, later one of the Justices 
of the King's Bench; Sir Dudley Wyatt and Thomas 
Culpepper. Political confusion in England clouded 
the title, which was not cleared until many years later 
by another royal grant, if indeed it was ever cleared 
satisfactorily. 

It was not, however, from England, nor yet from the 
neighbourhood of the James, that the first settlers came 
to the Virginia shore of the Potomac. It has been 
seen how religious toleration was established in Mary- 
land. Theoretically ideal and sound, practically this tol- 



34 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

eration worked out in confusion, heartburn, and wrath. 
Disaffected Protestants did the simple and natural 
thing. With the unaffected directness of pioneers 
they got out. But they did not have far to go to find 
a virgin haven blessed with all the natural charm of 
their late home. They steered their boats to the Vir- 
ginia side of the Potomac and there they made the first 
white settlement on the south shore of the river, oppo- 
site St. Mary's, at the point where Captain John Smith 
had found the Sekacawone Indians on the east bank of 
the Coan. 

So far as Virginia was concerned this was indeed an 
outpost of civilization, for miles of forest, unbroken 
except by the tidal estuaries, separated the cabins of 
these colonists from the nearest settlements on the 
south, beyond Mobjack Bay on the Chesapeake. They 
did not trouble themselves about the muddled title to 
the vast Northern Neck, to whose tip they clung, neither 
did they concern themselves with their obligations to 
the colonial government at Jamestown. Though these 
remote pioneers were less actual than theoretical tax- 
dodgers, it was to wring tithes out of them that the 
Jamestown government first bestowed attention on 
them, and eventually it required a military expedition 
to impress them with the fact that they were in Virginia 
and under the beneficent wing of an administration 
whose breath and being was sustained by the same 
vulgar support which has sustained all administrations 
since history began. 

Having paid their taxes they were keenly quick to see 
that obligations do not travel single but are as a rule 
yoked up with rights. So it was that the following year, 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 35 

1647, Mr. William Presley sailed out of the Potomac, 
down the Bay and into the James, and presented him- 
self as the representative of the inhabitants of "Chila- 
wone alias Northumberland," and was received as their 
delegate and seated. The taxes in question were as- 
sessed in tobacco: *'For every hundred acres of land 
15 lbs of tobacco. For every cow above 3 years old 
15 lbs of tobacco." 

The first land tenure on the river was in the vast term 
of the whole Northern Neck and of Lord Baltimore's 
principality which account for both shores of all tide- 
water Potomac. The first smaller holdings in Maryland 
were generally compensation from the Proprietor to an 
emigrant for going ' ' out to the colony. ' ' The individual 
was allowed one hundred acres for himself and one hun- 
dred additional acres for each male servant whom he 
brought out, but for a woman servant only sixty acres 
were allowed. A married man was allowed not only 
one hundred acres for himself but one hundred acres if 
accompanied by his wife and fifty acres for each child. 
Any woman bringing her children was granted the same 
terms. If a colonist brought with him five men between 
the ages of sixteen and fifty he was given one thousand 
acres. 

The servants so brought out were as a rule indentured 
for four years. At the end of that time they were given 
fifty acres of land, a whole year's supply of corn, "three 
suites of apparel, with things necessary to them and 
tools to work withal, so that they are no sooner free but 
they are ready to set up for themselves." 

How those disaffected Maryland emigrants who set- 
tled in Northumberland got title is wrapped in doubt. 



36 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

It is probable they had on their side no more than the 
nine points of the law given by possession. Later set- 
tlers about them and farther up river took land under 
terms quite different from all the rest of Virginia. The 
general practice elsewhere in Virginia was thus chroni- 
cled by the ancient Stith: "Fifty acres were allowed to 
thofe, who came, or brought others over . . . and 
I likewife find, in the old Records, that upon peopling 
and saving thefe hundred, or fifty Acres (the Terms of 
which I can nowhere find) they were entitled to the like 
Quantity more, to be held and feated at their Icifure. 
But befides this, there were two other Methods of 
granting Lands. The one was upon Merrit: When 
any Perfon had conferred a Benefit, or done Service, to 
the Company or Colony, they would beftow such a pro- 
portion of Land upon him. However, to prevent excefs 
in this Particular, they were ref trained, by his Majef ty's 
Letters Patent, not to exceed twenty great Shares, or 
two thoufand Acres, in any of thefe Grants. The other 
was called Adventure of the Purfe: every Person, who 
paid twelve Pounds ten fhillings into the Company's 
Treafury, having thereby a Title to an hundred Acres 
of Land, anywhere in Virginia, that had not been before 
granted to, or poffeffed by others." These tracts 
were held in freehold by patent under the King, the 
owner paying two shilhngs as a yearly Quit-Rent for 
every hundred acres. 

The first means of obtaining a grant, as above set 
out by Stith, was known as "the head right." This was 
entirely unknown in the Northern Neck. Here land 
was secured by purchase. The scale of prices for tak- 
ing up land varied according to quantity. For each 




St. Marys River 

Looking nortli from a i)oint helow tlie site of the first capital of tlio colony of 

Marvland 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 37 

one hundred acres in a tract of less than six hundred 
acres the price was five shilHngs. For each one hundred 
acres in a tract of more than six hundred acres the price 
was ten shilHngs. If metal money or currency was not 
available it was permissible to pay for the land in an 
equivalent of tobacco. 

As the land along the river was almost entirely virgin 
forest, metes and bounds of holdings were marked by 
the primitive method of notching the trees along boun- 
daries and at corners. Not only were these notches 
recognized as legal marks but "every five or seven years 
all People are obliged to go a Procession round their 
own Bounds and renew their Landmarks by cutting 
fresh Notches in the boundary Trees." 

A large part of the boundary of nearly every settler's 
holdings was, however, the tide-lapped shore of the 
great river or one of its estuaries. Water front was 
essential to the pioneer no matter how high up the inlet, 
for the water was at first his only public road, his right 
of way from his fields and dwelling, whether he rowed 
to his neighbours or sailed out on the broad waters of 
the main highway. 

It was in fact only when the creek shores had been 
occupied that the settlers "took up" land on the river 
proper. Every consideration of economy and protec- 
tion drove him first into the inlets which he and those 
following him even unto to-day call creeks. They 
burrow into the big river's side for miles, often with 
channel depths of thirty feet, twisting and turning, 
dividing into additional creeks, throwing out picturesque 
points, and developing scores of protective harbours. 
The wayfarer who has not explored the meanderings of 



38 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the creeks, and sought the landings behind their green 
points, is unacquainted with the chief charms of the 
"sweet waters" of the old river. Although the term 
"sweet" waters was frequently used, in the early 
"Relations," to mean "fresh" as distinguished from 
"salt" waters, this meaning was as often ignored by 
the early narrators who wrote of "these sweet waters" 
and the "sweetnesse of these waters" with a pictorial 
meaning to be appreciated only by those who know them. 

The old landings as a rule avoided the long reaches 
across the shallow banks to the deep channel of the 
river proper, and retired behind the protective points 
of the creeks' mouths, where the reach to deep water is 
frequently only a few feet from shore. Here they were 
undisturbed by the wind-driven waters of the big river 
or by the ice-floes which swept down once or twice a 
winter from the north. The pilings of an exposed 
landing were often lifted up and cast adrift when the 
ice formed about them and the recurring tide forced its 
way in underneath the surface with a pressure which 
slowly loosed their hold on the river bottom and drew 
them up and cast them adrift. 

The inlets along the river, although generally known 
as creeks, are in a few cases known as rivers, bays, and 
coves. The reason for the distinction is not obvious. 
Their feeds which flow in with the accumulation of 
many springs are known as runs, branches, and freshes. 
The inlets are tidal, their feeders have but one direction, 
that of their current. 

There are in tidewater Potomac thirty-two major 
navigable creeks, and a larger number of smaller creeks, 
opening directly on the big river. Of the former seven- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 39 

teen are in the Virginia shore and fifteen are in the 
Maryland shore. 

In sequence from the mouth of the river in the Vir- 
ginia shore are Little Wicomico River; Coan River 
(with Kingscote Creek and The Glebe branching from 
it); Yeocomico River (with South Yeocomico River, 
Mill Creek, West Yeocomico River and Northwest 
Yeocomico River); Nomini Bay (with Currioman Bay 
and Nomini Creek); Mattox Creek; Rosier Creek; 
Upper Machodac Creek; Potomac Creek; Aquia Creek; 
Quantico Creek; Neabsco Creek; Occoquon Bay (with 
Belmont Bay and Occoquon Creek fed by Bull Run; 
Gunston Cove (with Pohick Bay and Accotink Bay); 
Dogue Creek; Little Hunting Creek and Great Hunting 
Creek. 

In sequence from the mouth of the river in the Mary- 
land shore are Smith's or Trinity Creek; St. Mary's 
River (with St. Inigoes Creek branching from it); 
St. George's River (with Price Creek); Bretton Bay; 
St. Clement's Bay (with St. Patrick's Creek) ; Wicomico 
River (with Chaptico Creek); Port Tobacco Creek; 
Nanjemoy Creek; Chickowoxen Creek; Ma tta women 
Creek; Pomunkey Creek; Piscataway Creek; Broad 
Creek; Oxon Creek, and Anacostia River. 

Clearings were the first concern of the settlers. Leon- 
ard Calvert, in a letter written home to one of his part- 
ners two months after his arrival on the Potomac, said 
that on his cruise up to Piscataway he had found the 
virgin forest unbroken by a single Indian field. The 
same was doubtless true of the Virginia shore. Captain 
Sam Argoll wrote to Lord De La Warre that he had 
there found "the goodliest trees for masts that may be 



40 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

found elsewhere in the world." ^^^len a tract of land 
was "seated" the wood was not cut at the roots but 
about a yard from the ground *'lest it should shoot 
again." It was in the virginal abundance of such 
forests that originated the "slight fence of cleft rails," 
the snake or worm fence. 

The first shelters were crude cabins of hewn logs, 
always w^ith a spacious outside chimney. This chimney 
was generally of brick, for stone is rare along the river 
and excellent brick clay abounds. The pioneers' real 
building problem was not wood, nor brick, nor lime, 
however, but nails. So scarce were nails that when 
a settler moved it became the custom for him to burn 
down his house to retrieve the nails for use in a new 
building. It was on account of this scarcity of large 
nails that he used in their stead wooden pegs in joists 
and rafters, a practice which carried forward more than 
two centuries. 

Aside from the vegetable garden's yield, the first crops 
were corn and tobacco. The former was the staff of 
pioneer life. The latter was his currency, his only me- 
dium of exchange. They were both indigenous, acquisi- 
tions from the Indians. The corn was at once called 
"Indian corn" to distinguish it from wheat which in 
England was then and has ever since been known as 
"corn." From the Indian the settler got not only his 
method of raising corn and his method of treating the 
kernel for food, but also the two Indian words ever 
since used to describe the kernel when cured in lye and 
when as ground meal it was cooked in the hot ashes of 
the open fire-place: the one "hominy" and the other 
"pone." 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 41 

Horses had to be imported from England. Cows, 
hogs, and poultry were brought up from the James' 
settlements. Grazing animals at first had a hard time, 
but the swine had no difficulty "finding themselves" 
in the waterside woods. "Here, if the Devil had such 
a vagary in his head as he once had among the Gada- 
reans," wrote George Alsop of Maryland "to My Father 
at his House" London, "he might drown a thousand 
head of Hogs and they'd ne'er be miss'd for the very 
Woods of this Province swarms with them." 

To the fisher, the trapper, and the hunter, the river 
and its shores was a paradise. The water was alive with 
pike, shad, bass, herring, taylors, rock, crokers, perch, 
sheepshead, crabs, oysters, turtles, and eels; and its 
surface with gulls, swans, herons, geese, and duck. 
Among the more numerous "varmints" which enriched 
the trappers' snares were the racoon, the fox, the beaver, 
the otter, the possum, the rabbit, the squirrel, "the 
monack," and the muskrat. 

Alsop, in his rangy Elisabethan manner, gives his 
father this account of the larger beasts: "As for the 
wilde Animals of this Country, which loosely inhabits 
the Woods in multitudes, it is impossible to give you an 
adequate description of them all, considering the mul- 
tiplicity as well as the diversity of so numerous extent of 
creatures. . . . Herds of deer as numerous as 
Cuckholds can be in London, only their horns are not so 
well drest and tipt with silver as theirs are. . . . 
Their flesh in some places ... is the common pro- 
vision the inhabitants feed on. . . . the Park they 
traverse their ranging and unmeasured walks in is 
bounded and impanell'd in with no other pales than the 



4« POTOMAC LANDINGS 

rough and billowed Ocean . . . and they are not 
at all affrighted at the face of a man. . . As for the 
Wolves, Bears and Panthers of this Country, they in- 
habit in great multitudes up in the remotest parts of the 
Continent; yet at some certain time they come down 
near the Plantations, but they do little hurt or injury 
worth noting, and that which they do is of so degenerate 
and low a nature (as with reference to the fierceness and 
heroick vigour that dwell in the same kind of Beasts in 
other Countries) that they are hardly worth mentioning: 
For the highest of their designs and circumventing 
reaches is but cowardly and base, only to steal a poor 
Pigg or kill a lost and half starved Calf. The Effigies 
of a man terrifies him dreadfully, for they no sooner espy 
him but their hearts are at their mouths, and the spurs 
upon their heels, they gallop away, and never bid them 
farewell that are behind them." Virginia law provided 
a premium for a wolf*s head *'with the Ears on, to pre- 
vent imposition, and cheating the Publick ; for the Ears 
are crop'd when a head is produced." 

The earliest settlers had only occasional difficulty 
with the neighbouring Indians. On the north shore 
they were from the first considerate of the prior rights 
of the natives; took their lands, in part at least on pay- 
ment; and lived amicably with the remnant who had not 
moved north after the sale of the site of St. Mary's. 
The real trouble was with the occasional raid of "Indian 
Robbers and pillagers " from some distance. The Coun- 
cil ordered and Governor Calvert proclaimed it illegal 
for any inhabitant " to discharge or Concurr in the dis- 
charging of three Gunns within the Space of one quarter 
of an hour upon any occasion whatsoever unless upon 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 43 

Mustering days,'* as the discharge of three guns was 
reserved as a signal for an Indian attack. As quickly 
as the signal was heard it was repeated and so the alarm 
was telegraphed by fire from habitation to habitation. 
There was a fort with six guards at St. Inigoes, and 
thither and to the homes of certain appointed settlers 
the *' housekeepers" were ordered to carry their women 
and children. Across the river the first settlers came 
too late to have suffered under the great Virginia massa- 
cre of 1622, of which a reflex has been noted in upper 
tidewater in the beheading of Harry Spelman. 

In the absence of the exact terms of any Virginia 
treaty with the Potomac River Indians, an idea of what 
would have been, or indeed may have been, the terms 
of such an agreement is to be had from a treaty nego- 
tiated with the Chickahominies by Captain Sam Argall 
who was a witness of Spelman's death and knew the 
Indians and had their confidence as completely as any 
contemporary explorer or trader, and would have been 
the likeliest legate of the Governor to negotiate any 
treaty with the tribes on the Potomac. There were six 
articles to his treaty embodying the following condi- 
tions : 

"I. THAT they should forever be called English- 
men, and be true Subjects to King James and his 
Deputies : 

**II. THAT they should neither kill, nor detain, any 
of the English^ or their Cattle, but should bring them 
home: 

"III. THAT they should be always ready, to fur- 
nish the English with three hundred Men, against the 
Spaniards, or any other Enemy : 



44 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"IV. THAT they should not enter any of the 
English Towns, before sending in Word, that they were 
new Englishmen: 

"V. THAT every fighting Man, at gathering their 
Corn, should bring two Bushels to the Store, as a Trib- 
ute; for which he should receive as many Hatchets: 

"VI. THAT the eight chief Men should see all this 
performed, or receive the Punishment themselves; and 
for their Diligence, they should have a red Coat, a 
Copper Chain, and King James's Picture, and be ac- 
counted his Noblemen." 

From among the shadowy figures of the "Omnes" 
of the pioneer drama of the Potomac, there stand for- 
ward two striking personalities who challenge attention. 
They are Father Andrew White and Mistress Margaret 
Brent. Father White was a Jesuit missionary who 
accompanied Leonard Calvert in Lord Baltimore's first 
expedition to Maryland in 1634. He had had an active 
career in Europe where, after being expelled from Eng- 
land on account of his priestly activities, he had been 
professor of theology and Hebrew in Valladolid and 
Seville and of divinity in Liege and Douay. His "Re- 
lation of Maryland," which was accounted lost for so 
many years, is a frank and engaging narrative of the 
Maryland Pilgrims' voyage across the Atlantic and into 
the Potomac, and of the conditions which they found 
there. It is the cornerstone of Maryland history. 
Father White had a genuine zeal for the Indians among 
whom he lived for nearly ten years. Having mastered 
their language he prepared for them a grammar, a vo- 
cabulary, and a catechism, which were said to have 
been printed at St. Mary's, where at any rate was set 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 45 

up the first printing press in Maryland and one of the 
first in all the colonies. The grammar and vocabulary 
disappeared long ago. A copy of the Catechism was 
some years ago discovered in the Jesuit archives in 
Rome. In 1G39 Father White was assigned to the then 
most remote missionary station on the river, at the 
Indian town of Kittamaquindi, *'the metropolis of 
Pascatoe," on Piscataway Creek. Here he remained 
until 1642, occasionally sailing down river for a visit to 
St. Mary's. He was summoned to sit in Maryland's 
first Assembly, an honour he declined, as he preferred to 
take no part in secular affairs in the colony. During 
Claiborne's Rebellion, Father White, then about sixty- 
five years old, was seized for his missionary activities 
and sent in irons to England. His life was spared but 
he was banished from England. The will of the hardy 
old pioneer was far from broken, however, and his zeal 
for the Indians on the Potomac flamed to the last. He 
begged his superiors to send him back to the colony, 
but his petition was denied, and he died far from the 
scenes he loved and whose first historian he was. 

Margaret Brent was in her unique way an even more 
remarkable character. The historical gossips are ob- 
viously at a loss to account for the official favour of 
this woman. She came to St. Mary's in 1639 with her 
sister and two brothers and became a power in the little 
capital. When Governor Leonard Calvert died he 
named Mistress Brent the executrix of his will with the 
brief injunction to "Take all and Pay all." "All" was, 
to be sure, little enough in chattels, for the Governor 
left a personal estate of only one hundred and ten 
pounds sterling. If his personal estate was small, his 



46 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

land belongings were extensive, and they, together with 
the favour impHed, were stepping-stones enough for his 
friend who deserves to be remembered as the only 
woman who stands out clearly in the colonial history of 
Maryland. 

As executrix of the Governor's will, she became the 
guardian of his children; claimed the right to act as 
the Proprietor's attorney, "a right she exercised with 
energy"; and protected her brother's children and es- 
tates during his absences in England. She anticipated 
all later suffragettes in demanding a voice and vote in 
the Assembly, which, however, she did not get, al- 
though, in refusing, the Assembly recognized her services 
in saving the province during Ingle's Rebellion; and 
when the soldiers threatened to mutiny, to secure the 
pay which Governor Calvert had guaranteed with his 
estate, she acted with despatch, paying them with 
corn as long as it lasted and then with cattle, skilfully 
averting one of the most serious situations which threat- 
ened the young colony. 

So, in brief, civilization came to the Potomac, seated 
itself at the river's mouth, and began its slow sweep up 
the shores from point to point, and from creek to creek. 
It came upward like the tide whose ebb and flow had for 
ages been as the river's respiration and life. If, how- 
ever, the flow of this tide was slow as centuries, its ebb 
was eventually just as inevitable as the ebb that twice 
daily perpetually bares the sandy beaches and the land- 
ing piles along its way. 



CHAPTER IV 

Boundaries — Maryland and Virginia's Two-Hundred- Year Con- 
test for the Potomac — Now Wholly in Maryland — Laying 
Out the Counties — Plotting the Parishes — Early Churches 
on Both Shores — Origin of Place Names on the Potomac — 
Comic Issue of a Too Fervent Patriotism. 

THE inevitable accompaniment of habitations are 
boundaries. Boundaries bring disputes, and dis- 
putes are among the morsels that history feeds 
on. The one great dispute that grew out of the rising 
tide of settlement on the Potomac was over nothing less 
than possession and jurisdiction of the great river itself. 
The boundary line between Maryland and Virginia 
is believed to be vaguely the Potomac River. But 
when, over a course of more than one hundred miles, a 
river varies in width from one to ten miles, it is apparent 
that there is a vast area of water which is not definitely 
assigned to either adjoining jurisdiction. 

The makers of maps from the beginning have been 
divided in their partiality. They have furnished evi- 
dence, if the evidence of the casual map maker is to 
be admitted, to "both sides and the middle." Some 
placed the dotted boundary line close to the Virginia 
shore, some close to the Maryland shore, and others 
ignored the problem by colouring the north shore one 
colour and the south shore another, and leaving the river 
itself of another tint, presumably neutral, or of no 
tint at all. 

«7 



48 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The maps are really a history of a state of mind, for 
the boundary between Virginia and ^Maryland has been 
in question almost continuously since the days of the 
royal grants of Lord Baltimore's colony of Maryland 
and of the distressed cavaliers' Northern Neck of 
Virginia. In the fresh-water sources of the river 
the contest was over land. From the Falls to the 
mouth the contest was almost entirely over the water. 
The battle for the uplands raged in courts and assem- 
blies from generation to generation. The question of 
the jurisdiction over tidewater never rose quite to the 
violence of battle. Perhaps the distance from shore to 
shore softened the voices of debate. 

The first statement of a boundary line between Lord 
Baltimore's colony and its neighbours is found in the 
royal charter which created Maryland. Starting from 
the fortieth parallel of north latitude, its north boundary, 
the line runs south " to the first or most distant fountain, 
of the Potomac," thence proceeding southward to 
"the farther or western bank of that river, and follow- 
ing that bank" to a specified point at the mouth of the 
river where it debouches into the Chesapeake. 

To offset this Virginia quoted the royal grant of the 
Northern Neck. The terms of this grant included 
"the river Potomac and Rappahannock, and all the 
islands within their banks." 

Here the issue is found squarely joined, with phrasing 
made to order for disputation, whenever the mood 
came on. Maryland from the first not only main- 
tained claim to low-water mark on the Virginia shore 
of tidewater, but the claim was not often actively con- 
tested. Commissioners from both states met in 1784 to 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 49 

settle the question of navigation and jurisdiction on the 
river, and agreed that it should be acknowledged a com- 
mon highway for all citizens of the United States, and 
that the citizens of both states should enjoy equal fish- 
ing rights. Jurisdiction was not settled. In 1877 Vir- 
ginia's claim that her boundary extended to the middle 
of the river was finally settled by a commission of arbi- 
tration which placed the whole river within the boundary 
of Maryland. The low water on the Virginia shore, 
read the Award, "is to be measured from low-water 
mark at one headland to low-water mark at another, 
without following indentations, bays, creeks, inlets or 
affluent rivers"; and it adds, "Virginia is entitled not 
only to full dominion over the soil to low-water mark 
on the south shore of the Potomac, but has a right to 
such use of the river beyond the line of low-water mark 
as may be necessary to the full enjoyment of her ripar- 
ian ownership." 

From this it is clear that the Potomac is not the 
boundary between the adjacent states. Its waters are 
almost entirely in the State of Maryland, and its bed is 
Maryland soil. The boundary between the two states 
is the water line at low tide on the Virginia shore. 

The advance of the settlements up the river may be 
gauged relatively by the dates of the county divisions 
and of the creation of parishes and the erection of 
churches. In Maryland all religious denominations 
were on an equal footing for nearly three quarters of a 
century after the foundation of the colony, but in 
Virginia the Established Church of England, until the 
Revolutionary period, was given not only support by 
taxation of all the population but also certain civil 



50 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

jurisdiction, such as the repression of all forms of im- 
morality, laying the levies on all tithables and the care 
of the indigent. On this side of the river the parish 
shared civil obligations with the county from the first. 

The first counties on each side of the river were St. 
Mary's on the north and Northumberland on the south. 
Both were in the beginning co-extensive with the vast 
principalities of which they were a part. They lay 
along both sides of the river not only as far as the head 
of tidewater but beyond to the sources of the river, and, 
so far as any one at the mouth knew, perhaps to the 
China Sea. 

St. Mary's was the elder county of the two. It was 
called into being on the word of Lord Baltimore as 
one of the Proprietor's prerogatives. Northumberland 
across the river was, on the other hand, the creation of 
the legislative act of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 
in October, 1648. 

Settlers came quickly to the Potomac once its ad- 
vantages were made known by the chroniclers. The 
rush to its shores through the middle of the seventeenth 
century seems to have been an earlier example of the 
later rushes of the settlers to the Far West to stake min- 
ing claims in the mountains and to take up government 
lands on the prairies. It would seem that they came 
more quickly to the Virginia shore, as seven years after 
the handful of settlers crossed the river to the east bank 
of the Coan, which then appeared to be the only settle- 
ment on the Northern Neck, the number of inhabitants 
had so greatly increased that the Burgesses entertained 
a petition to erect a new county with a new court house 
farther up river. Northumberland was divided in 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 51 

1653. A new county was established which extended 
"from Matchoatoke River where Mr. Cole lives, and 
so upward to the Falls of the great river Potomacke 
above the Necostins town." The new county was 
called Westermoreland and, even in its eventual re- 
stricted bounds, showed a fertility in the production of 
wealthy planters and of revolutionary and early re- 
publican scholars and heroes unequalled by any other 
county in America. 

The date of the founding of Westmoreland and the 
early date of settlements farther up river are sug- 
gestive of the extraordinary character of the men who 
left England and came to the Potomac at this time. 
They largely were men of quality and comprehensive 
ideas. They brought with them their heritage of 
character from generations of gentle ancestry in Eng- 
land. They were royalists, sometimes called "cava- 
liers," partisans of the banished King Charles II, who 
were driven out of England by the Puritan success and 
the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1649, and 
they continued to come in large numbers until the 
restoration of royalty in 1660. They transplanted to 
the Potomac the traditions and character of old Eng- 
land and soon they built up along its shores a replica 
of the English social, domestic, and religious life. 

At the same time that these people came to Virginia 
the upper inlets on the north shore were settled by 
a population which was increasingly Protestant and 
which emigrated for similar reasons. Desiring to de- 
tach themselves from their Catholic neighbours down 
river they pleaded truthfully the hardship which it 
was to travel all the way to St. Mary's to attend court 



52 rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

and other county business, and secured a division of the 
original county in IG08. In establishing this new 
county Lord Baltimore again complimented his royal 
patron King Charles II, for whom he named it Charles 
County. Its Potomac shore reached from the centre 
of the mouth of the Wicomico River "as far as the set- 
tlements extend." 

In 16G4 settlers were so numerous in Potomac Creek, 
Aquia Creek, and northward on the western shore that 
another line was drawn from the river westward, and 
all of Westmoreland County formerly north thereof 
was called Stafford County. The exact location of this 
point does not appear in any surviving records of the 
early Virginia statutes, but it was probably at Potomac 
Creek, for Stafford's south boundary seems always to 
have been on this water. 

The chronology of the counties, maintaining its zig- 
zag course across the river, next turns up 1695 as the 
date when upper Charles County split off from the 
original lump and was called Prince George's, and this 
county has the distinction of being the first in Maryland 
to be constituted by the Assembly instead of being 
arbitrarily erected by the Proprietor. The dividing line 
between Charles and Prince George's was then fixed, 
and has ever since been at Mattawomen Creek. 

The next readjustment of county lines on the south 
shore came in 1720-1721 when King George County 
came into being. The act of creation recites the in- 
creasingly familiar "whereas diverse and sundry in- 
conveniences attend the inhabitants ... by reason 
of their great distance from the Court-house and other 
places usually appointed for publick meetings," but this 




PoHicK Church 

Truro Parish, near the head of Pohick Creek and at equal distance from Mount 

Vernon and Gunston Hall. 




Yeocomico CntTRCH 

( »n tlic I'otoiiiMc, \Vi-sliii<>icl;iii(l County, Virgini;i. It was huilt in 171(». 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 53 

time the congestion manifests itself where the distance 
between the Rappahannock and the Potomac is nar- 
rowest, from Rosier Creek to Potomac Creek, and the 
adjustment is not made by the familiar expedient of 
dividing off an undetermined wilderness beyond a 
south line. On this occasion Westmoreland on the 
Potomac and Richmond on the Rappahannock were 
divided to form the new county. In 1777 that portion 
of Westmoreland lying along the river north and west of 
a line run "directly to Washington's mill on Rosier's 
Creek and down the said creek to Potomack River'* 
was contributed to the new county of King George. 

Prince William County was erected in the year 1730, 
"3rd and 4th of George II." The process was the 
division of Stafford, and all of the river north of Chapa- 
womsic Creek was given to the new county. Twelve 
years later, such was the continued rush of settlers to 
upper tidewater Potomac, Prince William was cur- 
tailed at a line extending westward from Occoquon 
Creek and its feeder Bull Run. The new county to the 
north was named Fairfax. 

Thus one hundred and fifty years after the first 
settlement was made on the river its tidewater county 
lines were defined exactly as they are to-day, except 
for one later and curious instance. In bringing the capi- 
tal of the United States to the Potomac at the end of 
the eighteenth century a rectangular tract ten miles 
square was cut out from both sides of the river. It was 
called the District of Columbia. Washington interested 
himself in the survey of the setting for "the Federal 
City," as he unfaiHngly called it, and April 15, 1791, he 
set the corner stone of the District's southern angle on 



54 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Jones' Point at the extreme end of the northern Hp of 
the mouth of Great Hunting Creek on the south side 
of Alexandria. A Hght-house has stood here for genera- 
tions a beacon to the vessels coming up the river. That 
portion of the District taken from Fairfax County in 
1789 was, in 1847, restored to the State of Virginia, and 
given the name of Alexandria County. Its name but 
not its extent was changed to Arlington County in 1920. 
Its western boundary is still marked by the stones, 
placed at one-mile intervals, which were set up in 
common with those on the Maryland side of the river 
to mark the boundary of the original District of Colum- 
bia. 

Attention has been called to the share of civil obliga- 
tions borne by the Established Church in Virginia from 
the beginning of the colony until the Revolution and 
in Maryland from the last years of the eighteenth 
century until the Revolution. Hence, in Virginia at 
least, the establishment of parishes and the building 
of churches was practically concurrent with the ad- 
vance of the settlements and the formation of the 
counties. 

The first religious services known to have been held 
on the Potomac were those first prayers offered by the 
Maryland pilgrims when they touched the Heron 
Islands, at the foot of the rude cross which they piously 
erected, with the sky for roof. When they established 
themselves at St. Mary's services were held in the 
first building devoted to Christian worship on the 
river. It was in one of the Indian houses described by 
Father White as half oval in form, some twenty feet 
long, ten feet high *' with a place open at the top, halfe 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 55 

a yard square, whereby they admit the light, and let 
forth the smoke, for they build their fire, after the man- 
ner of ancient halls of England, in the middle of the 
house." In such a house, he added, *'we doe celebrate 
[the mass], having it dressed a little better then by the 
Indians, till we get a better, which shall be shortly as 
may be." 

Soon, certainly prior to 1638, a chapel was built of 
brick in the gradually forming little capital, the first 
building erected by the Christian colonists for religious 
worship. Surviving evidence from various sources in- 
dicates that this chapel was about eighteen by thirty 
feet on its foundation lines, that there was a carved 
representation of clouds and of the flames of Pentecost 
over the altar, and that it was for a time used jointly 
by the Protestants and Catholics. Later the Catholics 
secured exclusive possession and eventually, when the 
Episcopal Church became the Established Church, the 
Catholics were forbidden to practise their religion and 
the chapel was closed. 

Catholicism retained its hold on Maryland, however, 
struggling along by voluntary contribution, much as 
the Episcopal Church had to do after the Colonies' 
break with England. The other principal early churches 
of this faith built along the Maryland shore of the 
Potomac, and there was not a single one on the Virginia 
shore until one was built in comparatively recent times 
in Alexandria, were: St. Inigoes just east of Priest's 
Point near the mouth of the St. Mary's Kiver, where 
the first Jesuit mission was established shortly after the 
arrival of the Ark and the Dove; St. Aloysius, near 
Leonardtown at the head of Bretton Bay; St. Francis 



56 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

on Beggar's Neck, one of the very few brick Catholic 
churches surviving, on the peninsula between Bretton 
Bay and St. Clement's Bay; the Chapel of the Sacred 
Heart on the lands of Bushwood Manor on the neck 
between St. Clement's Bay and the Wicomico River; 
and the Jesuit Church on the lands of St. Thomas 
Manor, on the heights overlooking Port Tobacco and 
the great river. 

Soon after the erection of the chapel at St. Mary's 
the Protestants, during or before 1642, built three 
churches for Episcopal worship. The first probably 
rose on the banks of Trinity Creek and soon disap- 
peared. The second stood on the hills east of Bretton 
Bay and was called Poplar Hill Church, and sometimes 
St. George's. The third was the church of St. Clem- 
ent's Manor on St. Paul's Creek. It, too, disappeared 
early. The Poplar Hill neighbourhood south of Bretton 
Bay was an early stronghold of the Protestant. They 
asserted themselves by giving the name Protestant 
Point to the next point up the bay from Higgin's Point 
and, in contrast with the rest of St. Mary's County 
shore line, there is here a marked absence of saints' 
names. The first permanent Protestant clergyman 
came to Maryland in 1650, the Reverend William 
Wilkinson, and officiated at both Poplar Hill and St. 
Mary's for thirteen years. These early ministers, 
unsupported by a fixed tax as were their Virginia breth- 
ren, lived a somewhat precarious existence unless 
sustained by an occasional legacy. 

The Episcopal Church found extraordinary strength 
and comfort in the English Revolution of 1688 which 
brought William and Mary to the throne. Virginia 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 57 

shared in this naturally but to no such extent as Mary- 
land. From 1692 the Episcopal Church became the 
official church of the latter colony and its position was 
to that extent coordinated with the church in Virginia. 
The counties along the north shore of the Potomac, 
in common with others in the colony, were almost im- 
mediately divided into parishes, in some cases creating 
new parishes and in others perpetuating the boundaries 
already developed. The shore from Point Lookout to 
St. Clement's Bay lay in William and Mary Parish and 
the shore above, to include Newport Hundred at the 
head of the Wicomico River, lay in King and Queen 
Parish. William and Mary was later divided and all 
east of St. Mary's River became St. Mary's Parish. A 
subsequent division of Kjng and Queen's gave so much 
of this parish as lay in Charles County to Trinity Par- 
ish. The farther shore of Charles County, which at 
the time extended "as far as the settlements," attached 
to three parishes. About the hills and shores of Port 
Tobacco lay the parish of that name. West of Nan- 
jemoy Creek as far as the big river lay Durham Parish, 
and the rest of the settlers to the north found them- 
selves in a parish named for Piscataway Creek. 

The earliest churches on the river have been noted. 
Poplar Hill was the parish church of William and Mary 
Parish. Christ Church, larger and finer, and some- 
times attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, rose at the 
head of Chaptico Bay on the east side of Wicomico 
River, as the parish church of King and Queen. This 
church as well as that at Port Tobacco was built under 
the early impetus of the establishment. About thirty- 
five years later than these rose old Durham Church, 



58 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

in the centre of the lower end of the peninsula west of 
Nanjemoy Creek of which Maryland Point is the 
southern tip. Piscataway parishioners first attended 
St. John's, the little church in the meadow at the head 
of Broad Creek, and later also St. Paul's *'in the bosom 
of the woods" on Rock Creek. When Piscataway 
Parish was created its northern boundary was the south- 
ern boundary of the colony of Pennsylvania, hence all 
parishes in northwest Maryland are descended directly 
from the quaint, isolated little brick church above Broad 
Creek. Though far from the thickening settlements 
of the young colony this church is one of the oldest on 
the river. It was opened for divine worship in 1697. 
Old St. Paul's once stood in the wilderness of Turkey 
Thicket, later to be surrounded by Rock Creek ceme- 
tery, as the City of Washington rose and grew far 
beyond it. The church bears the date of its beginning 
in its cornerstone, 1719. 

The beginnings of the parishes on the Virginia shore 
come more hazily out of the early days than do those 
on the northern side. The statutes surviving leave the 
time of the foundations in doubt. The early vestry 
books are long since gone. Even a seventeenth cen- 
tury tombstone is a rarity in Northumberland or 
Westmoreland. So it is that two parishes pop full 
fledged out of old Northumberland lists, more than 
a century after the county organized. Indeed the 
earliest tangible evidence of particular parishes in this 
neighbourhood is found in the inscription on an old 
communion cup, showing that it was presented by Han- 
cock Lee of Ditchley Hall to Lee Parish in 1711. Ditch- 
ley looked out upon the Chesapeake from the lower 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 59 

shores of the county. This apparently is not only the 
earliest surviving reference to a parish on this side of 
the Potomac but it appears to be the only one men- 
tioning a " Lee " parish. Twelve years later the Bishop 
of London is found sending a circular letter to the 
minister of Washington Parish in Westmoreland. The 
first references to the permanently established parishes 
of St. Stephen and Wycomico in Northumberland are 
found in county lists of 1754 and 1758. Tradition, 
the gossip, is confident that there were an Upper 
St. Stephen's and a Lower St. Stephen's. At any rate, 
it is not certain that the Assembly established county 
lines and parish lines at the same time here as they 
certainly did later a little way farther up river. 

The lines were all drawn within a century, however, 
and substantial brick churches had been built. A par- 
ish map of the Virginia shore at that time would show 
nine tidewater parishes. Northumberland, long and 
narrow, was divided into Wycomico Parish in its south- 
ern half and St. Stephen's in its northern half. West- 
moreland, even longer and quite as narrow, was divided 
into Cople Parish in its southern portion and Washing- 
ton Parish to the north. From each of these two 
Westmoreland parishes portions were taken in very 
recent times to form the new parish of Montross. King 
George, only half the length of either of the lower 
counties, had only St. Paul's Parish. Stafford County 
and Overwharton, and Prince William County and 
Dettingen Parish, were in each case co-extensive. Fair- 
fax County was divided into Truro Parish in its south- 
ern portion and Fairfax Parish to the north. 

There were sometimes two or three churches in each 



60 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

parish, with an occasional chapel of ease in a remote 
neighbourhood attended from one of the parish churches. 
The choice of tlie situation for a church was in a large 
way controlled by a desire to make it central to the 
principal plantations and most easily accessible by 
road and water. Once a neighbourhood was selected 
for a church, however, the exact location was deter- 
mined by convenience to a spring of good water, for the 
faithful came over hot and dusty roads and often man 
and horse refreshed themselves after travelling half the 
length of the county. The name of a church nearly 
always differed from that of the parish in which it was 
situated. 

In Cople Parish Yeocomico Church was built a few 
miles inland from the river but Nomini Church stood 
on the picturesque creek from which it took its name 
in full view of the boats rowed or sailed up its quiet 
waters. The location of Pope's Creek Church in 
Washington Parish is revealed in its name. The St. 
Paul's Parish Church in King George stands near 
Bedford on the Potomac, one of the Fitzhugh places. 
The first church in Overwharton was built near Potomac 
Creek and shared with Wycomico in Northumberland 
the distinction of being among the largest churches 
built in all colonial Virginia. Its successor, built some 
six or seven miles away, is Aquia Church. In Dettingen 
Parish were Broad Run Church and the Dumfries 
Church. Truro Parish had but one church, Pohick, at 
first on the crossroads at the head of Pohick Bay but 
later moved to a commanding position on the hills about 
two miles farther north. The more populous northern 
Fairfax Parish had churches in Alexandria and near the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 61 

head of tidewater Potomac, not far from a point from 
which it took its name, Falls Church. 

There is an inscription over the south door of Aquia 
Church which not only dates the building but reminds 
of a former meaning of a common word. It reads: 
"Built A. D. 1751. Destroyed by fire 1751, and re- 
built A.D. 1757 by Mourning Richards, Undertaker. 
Wm. Copein, Mason." It will be admitted that 
*' Mourning" is a singularly appropriate name for an 
undertaker as we use the word, but in the sense em- 
ployed in this inscription it means Contractor. 

With the names of the estuaries of the big river and 
of the counties and parishes along its shores set out, 
some analogy may have already suggested itself between 
the names given by the colonists to their surroundings 
and the sources which suggested them. 

The oldest names in any neighbourhood are apt to be 
those given the conspicuous natural formations. This 
is true of the Potomac whose time-old estuaries, first 
familiar to the red man, as a rule bear names given by 
or for the Indians, and only in a few instances do they 
bear any reference to the character or origin of the white 
men who discovered and settled their banks. Wico- 
mico, Coan, Nomini, Currioman, Neabsco, Occoquon, 
Pohick, Dogue, Chaptico, Nanjemoy, Chickowuxen, 
Mattawomen, Pomunky, Piscataway, and Anacostia are 
all Indian names or are slight perversions based on 
Indian originals. 

The conspicuous exceptions to the otherwise general 
Indian nomenclature of the inlets is found on the north 
shore near the mouth of the river where the Catholics 
came and honoured the saints of their Church in naming 



62 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the city of St. Mary's; the islands of St. George, St. 
Clement, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret; and the 
waters of St. Mary's River, St. Inigoes Creek, St. 
George's River, St. Clement's Bay, and St. Patrick's 
Creek. 

The British origin and loyalty of the settlers on both 
sides of the river are marked unmistakably by the ear- 
liest names of the counties and parishes. Lord Balti- 
more, after naming St. Mary's County for the patron 
saint selected by the pilgrims in the Ark and the DovCy 
did honour to his banished sovereign. King Charles II, 
in naming Charles County in 1658. The naming of 
Prince George's County in 1695 by the Assembly was 
another evidence of colonial loyalty to the royal family. 
The parish names of William and Mary and of King 
and Queen practically date their foundation. 

The first Potomac River counties in Virginia derive 
from ancestral localities in England: Northumberland, 
Westmoreland, and Stafford. The naming of King 
George County complimented the then reigning King 
George I, and Prince William County was named ten 
years later in honour of the then Duke of Cumberland. 
A domestic sense asserted itself somewhat in 1742 
when Fairfax County was named after "that most 
faithful of all Tories, [Thomas,] Lord Fairfax," but 
more definitely in naming Alexandria County after the 
city of that name which perpetuated its first settlers, 
the Alexander family, and again in changing that 
name to Arlington after the Custis estate opposite 
Washington City. 

The river parishes in Virginia reflect the aborigines 
in Wycomico; religious sentiment at least in St. Ste- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 63 

phen's and St. Paul's; ancestral parishes in old England 
in Cople, Overwharton, and Truro; loyalty to the 
mother country in Dettingcn, named in 1745 suppos- 
edly for the English victory at Dettingen in 1743; and 
domestic characters in Washington and Fairfax. 

These names are not only the sign posts and mile- 
stones of history, but they give a noble distinction to 
all tidewater where they weave a picturesque if some- 
what faded background to a later age. They are a 
precious heritage to those who live along the river 
and a source of glamour and charm to those who come 
to the old landings. Yet in the first days of the Revolu- 
tion against England and all the trappings of royalty 
and nobility, a fervent republican rose in the Virginia 
Assembly and became eloquent on the subject of erasing 
all royal and noble names from the commonwealth. 
The saving sense of humour of his fellow legislators did 
not quiet him and he continued his tirade until he was 
challenged to mortal combat by a patriot member, 
named King! 



CHAPTER V 

Plantations — Vast Land Holdings — Manorial Land System in 
Maryland — Land Transfer "By the Rod" — Court Leet and 
Court Baron — Virginia Repudiates the Manorial System — 
An Ancient Indian Deed — Factors in Huge Fortunes — To- 
bacco as Crop and Currency — Trade Between Potomac Land- 
ings and English Ports. 

THE high tide of country life on the Potomac was 
reached early in the eighteenth century and 
continued for over five score* years. Within a 
hundred years after John Smith discovered the river 
to the white man and Leonard Calvert had planted the 
first settlement at St. Mary's, practically the entire shore 
on each side, including the smiling lowlands and hillsides 
of the bays and creeks, was divided up into estates. 

The cabins or roughly framed houses had yielded 
place in many cases to the great mansions, of brick 
almost as often as of frame, with their villages of out- 
buildings. At the waterside of every great estate, 
and every plantation had its waterfront, the landings 
dug their pilings deep into the bed of the creeks or 
reached from the shore like an amphibious centipede 
across the flats to the deep waters of the channel. The 
names which ornamented colonial life and later il- 
luminated our revolutionary period were found already 
among the planters. Here were the seats of the Cal- 
verts. Brents, Hansons, Jenifers, Digges, Addisons, 
Claggetts, Small woods, and Keys. Here the Fair- 

64 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 65 

faxes, Lees, Washingtons, Carters, Turbervilles, Mar- 
shalls, Fitzhughs, Mercers, Monroes, Corbins, and 
Masons were at home. 

A plantation often took up several miles of shore, 
and some there were occupying a point of land between 
the river and an inlet, or running along the river shore 
with creeks bounding two of their sides, whose shore 
line measured more than ten miles. The development 
of such plantations, in Maryland called Manors on ac- 
count of the land tenure established there and of the 
domestic and social life which flourished on them and 
the great personages they produced, is one of the ab- 
sorbing features of the story of tidewater Potomac. 

The river planters had a passion for land. It was 
an English inheritance. Their domains were truly 
baronial. On an elevation commanding the water, 
often with vistas extending twelve to fifteen miles, 
they placed their homes in a sheltering grove of locust or 
oak. It pleased a planter to have no other habitation 
in sight, for this gave him a sense of possession as far as 
the eye could see and thus the water as well as the land 
contributed to his sense of overlordship. 

From the other front of the mansion the view was no 
less possessive and contributory. Fields and forests, 
to the line where the distant purpled tree tops met the 
sky, were his. The lumbering coach rolled for miles 
over his own acres before it came in sight of his own big 
house. Astride his horse the planter rode from clearing 
to clearing, from "quarter" to "quarter," hour after 
hour the day long, and never left his own land. 

The holding of vast estates by a single indi\adual 
appeared on the Maryland shore within five years of 



66 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the arrival of the earHest colonists. Large land units 
were the natural accompaniment of the manorial system 
which was included in the charter from the King to 
Lord Baltimore from whose proprietorship of all Mary- 
land depends every land title on this side. 

By this grant the Proprietor and his delegated Gov- 
ernor held extraordinary powers over the landholder. 
He was not merely supreme possessor of the land but he 
was the supreme arbiter of the lives and fortunes of the 
colonists; and " the source of all honour, justice, religion, 
order and to a high degree of the law itself." He 
headed a sufficiently aristocratic form of government. 
An analogy has been drawn between the Lord Proprietor, 
the Lords of the Manors, and the freeholders of the 
Potomac colony on the one hand and the King, the 
Barons, and the gentry of England on the other. The 
serfs and villains of the old country had their counter- 
part in the redemptioners, Indians and slaves of the 
new. The freemen of the counties and of St. Mary's 
City were likened to the free inhabitants of the English 
cities and free boroughs. 

The land of an immigrant who took up a minimun of 
one thousand acres was made a Manor of which the 
owner was constituted the Lord. His special privileges 
were "trial by peers, freedom from ignominious death, 
summons by special writ to every Assembly, right to 
keep stray cattle, and right to escheat of tenements." 

In addition to the lord of the manor his land was often 
occupied by freeholders, leaseholders and resiants. An 
indication of the terms on which a tenant held posses- 
sion is found in an old notice summoning one of them 
to pay his annual rent on one hundred acres on St. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS G? 

Michael's Manor, behind Point Lookout, and noting 
it as "2 barrells of corn and 2 capons." 

The earliest method of land transfer was to make a 
note on the back of the patent, or by a crude memoran- 
dum handed the purchaser, or more picturesquely "by 
the rod." The last method may be illustrated from an 
original manuscript record of the transfer of a portion 
of St. Gabriel's Manor in 1656 by the Lady of the 
Manor, Mistress Margaret Brent, her steward acting 
for her, to one Martin Kirk. Kirk was given "livery 
of seizen" by the rod, he holding one end and the 
steward the other, in the presence of witnesses, while the 
steward declared: "the Lord [Lady?] of the Manor 
by me the Steward doth hereby deliver you seizen by 
the rod and admit you as tenant of the premises." 
Whereupon Kirk, in full court, did his fealty to the lady 
of the manor, swearing in these terms: "Hear you, my 
Lady, that I, Martin Kirk, shall be to you both true and 
faithful and shall owe my fidelity to you for the land 
I hold of you and lawfully shall do and perform such 
customs and services as my duty is to you at the term 
assigned, so help me God, and all his Saints." Then, 
after the ancient English custom, a twig was broken 
and each party retained a part thereof as evidence of 
the transfer. 

Justice was administered by the lord of the manor 
who held Court Baron and Court Leet. The latter was 
the people's court for the trial of their own disputes. 
The Court Baron settled disputes involving his lordship 
as one of the parties. The steward presided at the 
Court Leet and the residents of the manor were chosen 
for jury and court officers. The following malefactors 



68 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

were brought to trial before the Court Leet according 
to an early English statute: "Such as have double 
measure, and buy by the great and sell by the less. 
Such as haunt taverns and no man knoweth where they 
live. Such as sleep by day and watch by night and 
fare well and have nothing." In the Court Baron the 
freeholder was tried by his lordship and the free tenants 
of the manor and here the tenant swore his oath of 
fealty in the terms already given. Though the Courts 
Baron and Leet were a source of extensive power and 
profit to the lord of the manor while he retained his 
jurisdiction, this judicial system flickered feebly and 
gave way at an early date to the elective system of 
judges of county courts. The Proprietorship, however, 
was not terminated until 169L 

A minimum of 1,000 acres was required as the basis 
of a manorial right. St. Richard's, St. Joseph's, and 
Westbury manors in St. Mary's County, and Cool 
Spring and Parrott's manors in Prince George's County 
each contained 1,000 acres. Basford Manor on Chaptico 
Bay held 1,500 acres. Woolselly Manor held 1,900 
acres. Snow Hill Manor near St. Mary's City held 
6,000 acres. Captain Harry Fleet, who directed Cal- 
vert to the site of his capital, received a grant of 4,000 
acres, at least a part of which was erected into the 
Manor of West St. Mary's. It later became a part of 
the grant to Thomas Cornwallis, and Fleet crossed 
the Potomac to reside on the south shore of the North- 
ern Neck. 

The minimum of one thousand acres for a manor 
was early increased to two thousand acres with the 
requirement that each manor "lye all together in some 




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POTOMAC LANDINGS 69 

one place in the Province." A single manor, however, 
did not always constitute the entire holding of a single 
owner. Cuthbert Fenwick was the lord of St. Inigoes' 
Manor of 2,100 acres on St. Mary's River and also of 
Fenwick Manor of 2,000 acres on the near-by Patuxent 
River. Another such instance was provided by Thomas 
Cornwallis, who w'as lord of Cornwallis Manor, of 
2,000 acres on the Potomac, St. Elizabeth's Manor 
of 2,000 acres near but detached, and of Resurrection 
Manor of 4,000 acres a few miles north on the Patuxent 
River. Here was a total of 8,000 acres in one man's 
ownership. The first governor of the colony, Leonard 
Calvert, reserved for himself three adjacent manors 
(St. Michael's, St. Gabriel's, and Trinity) which com- 
prised a block of land whose southern tip was Point 
Lookout at the mouth of the river, with a northern 
boundary line drawn from Smith's Creek on the Poto- 
mac to St. Jerome's Creek on Chesapeake Bay, an 
eastern boundary washed throughout its length by the 
bay and St. Jerome's Creek, and a western boundary 
washed throughout its length by the Potomac and 
Smith's Creek. 

The largest single manor on the river appears to have 
been St. Clement's. It embraced St. Clement's, St. 
Catherine's, and St. Margaret's islands and the southern 
portion of the near-by mainland between St. Clement's 
Bay and Wicomico River. In all it contained 11,400 
acres. It was granted to "Thos. Gerrard, Gent.", a 
member of the Council, in 1639 and 1642. Basford 
Manor was next St. Clement's Manor on the northwest 
side and was also the property of this same Thomas 
Gerrard. 



70 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

On the Virginia side of the river the first grant, it 
has already been noted, included the whole of the 
Northern Neck which accounted for the entire shore on 
that side of the river. It was made in 1649 shortly 
after the grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore and it 
embraced similar privileges of proprietorship and the 
right to create manors and the lords thereof. There 
was unprecedented "grief and pain" over this grant 
and a vigorous but respectful protest was made by the 
people to King Charles 11. His reply was a second grant, 
which included not merely the Northern Neck but the 
whole of Virginia, for a period of thirty-one years, made 
to the Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpepper. Renewed 
protests were carried to the crown by three agents of 
the colony who sailed to England for that purpose. The 
immediate result was not encouraging, but adjustments 
were made which eventually resulted in the whole of 
the Northern Neck passing by purchase into the hands 
of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, who later came to America 
and resided on his property. 

The manorial rights in the royal grant of the North- 
ern Neck were never exercised. Possibly it was suffi- 
ciently difficult merely to retain title in the face of an 
indignant population. Possibly they did not dare to 
introduce the manorial system in view of an earlier 
futile effort in another part of the colony. My atten- 
tion was called to this by the late Thomas Pinckney 
Bryan of Virginia, who wrote: "An effort to set up 
manorial rights was made in the early days of the 
colony by a man named John Martin. He secured a 
broad grant from the Virginia Company and settled 
at Martin's Hundred down by Mulberry Island, whence 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 71 

he sent two delegates to the convention which sat in 
1619. The delegates announced that they would be 
bound by rules of the convention only in so far as it 
pleased them to be bound. Whereupon the Assem- 
bly, prompted by the democratic motives that have 
ever since obtained in Virginia, refused to seat them in 
the convention. Then and there the manorial business 
came to an end in Virginia." 

However, the dissimilar land system in Virginia did 
not discourage large holdings on that side of the river 
when sought by men of large ideas, backed by wealth, 
favour, or daring. Plantations in multiples of one 
thousand acres were as numerous here as across in 
Maryland, and a seat or residence of this size was 
sometimes a mere fraction of the owner's holdings at 
other points on the river. 

The Brent family was one of the earliest to accumu- 
late large detached holdings. Margaret Brent has 
already been mentioned. Her brothers Giles and Fulk 
and her sister Mary accompanied her from England to 
make their home in America. After a few years at St. 
Mary's they crossed the river and bought land in the 
neighbourhood of Aquia Creek where they remained the 
rest of their lives. The north lip of the mouth of 
Aquia has ever since been known as Brent's Point. 
Land grants to this family between 1651 and 1666 show 
that they owned 9,610 acres on the Virginia shore some 
of which was located as far north as Hunting Creek 
where later the city of Alexandria appeared. 

These holdings were probably a trifle, however, 
compared to the strip of land across the Northern 
Neck from the Potomac to the Rappahannock which 



72 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Major Moore Fantleroy bought of the Indians in 1651. 
It reached the entire lower width of Westmoreland 
County where the distance between the rivers averages 
fifteen miles. Its exact location and its precise number 
of acres is left to conjecture, but the original contract is 
repeated for its unique and amusing character: 

"At a machcomacoi held the 4th of April 1651, at 
Rappahannock, — Accopatough, Wionance, Toskicough, 
Coharneittary, Pacauta, Mamogueitan, Opathittara, 
Cakarell James, Minniaconaugh, Kintassa-hacr. 

"To all people to whom these presents shall come, 
both English and Indians, know ye that I, Accopatough, 
the right-born and true king of the Indians of Rappahan- 
nock Town and Townes, and of all the land thereto be- 
longing, do hereby for and in consideration of ten fathom 
of peake and goods, amounting to thirty arms' length of 
Rohonoke already in hand received, and for the love 
and affection which I the king, and all my men, do bear 
unto my loving friend and brother. Moor Fantleroy, 
who is likewise now immediately to go with me unto 
Pasbyhaies unto the governor, and safely to convey 
me and my men back again hither unto Rappahannock, 
for which and in consideration thereof I do hereby 
bargain and sell, give, grant, and confirm, and by this 
present indenture have bargained, sold, given, granted, 
conveyed, and fully confirmed unto the said Fantleroy, 
his heirs and assigns forever, a certain p'cell of land 
situate, lying, and being in two necks on the north side 
of Rappahannock Creek, beginning for breadth at the 
southernmost branch or creek of Macaughtions bay or 
run, and so up and along by the side of the said river 
of Rappahannock, unto a great creek or river which 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 73 

run — Totoslia or Tanks Rappahannock Town; for 
length extending easterly with its full breadth unto the 
bounds of the Potomack River at the uttermost bounds 
of my land. To have, hold, and enjoy all and singular 
the aforesaid lands and waters, with all and every part 
and parcel thereof, lying and being as aforesaid, unto 
the said Fantleroy, his heirs, executors, administrators, 
and assigns forever, so long as the sun and moon en- 
dure th, with all the appurtenances, rights, liberties, 
commodities, and profits whatsoever thereunto be- 
longing, in as full and as ample manner as ever I, the 
said king, or any of my predecessors, ever had or could 
have had, by for me. My heirs and assigns fully as- 
suring the said Fantleroy, his heirs and assigns, forever 
peaceably and quietly to enjoy all and every part and 
parcel of the said land without any manner of lett, 
losses, molestations, or disturbance whatsoever pro- 
ceeding from me or any Indian or Indians whatsoever, 
now or hereafter, may or shall belong unto me or any 
of my heirs, assigns, or successors, hereby giving unto 
my said brother full power, leave, license, and authority 
to punish, correct, beat, or kill any Indian or Indians 
whatsoever, which shall contrary to the intent of this 
my act and deed presume to molest, harm, or offer any 
manner of harm, wrong, injury, or violence upon the 
said land, or any part of it, unto the said Fantleroy, 
his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns or any 
whomsoever he or they shall seat, place, or put upon 
any part or parcel of the abovesaid land hereby given, 
and granted, and alienated as aforesaid. In witness 
whereof, and to the true and full intent and meaning is 
hereof, with a full knowledge and understanding of this 



74 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

present act and deed, I, the said king, in the presence of 
my great men and divers others of my Indians, have 
hereunto signed and sealed, the fourth day of April, 
one thousand six hundred and fifty one. Signed, sealed 
and possession given by tree and turf, 

ACCOPATOUGH, (Seal.) 
John Edgecombe, Natha Batson, 
Alexander Campler, Franc: Marsh. 

This eleventh of May, one thousand six hundred and 
fifty one, we Touweren, the great King of Rappahan- 
nock and Moratoerin, do hereby fully ratify and con- 
firm the above said act and deed unto our loving brother 
Fantleroy, his heirs and assigns. Witness our hand 
and seals the day above written. 

TOUWEREN, MACHAMAP. 

(seal.) (seal.) 

Witnesses: 
William Foote, 
Franc. Marsh, 
Natha Batson. 

(Teste.) Wilson Allen, C.G.C. 

The holdings of the first Lee on the Potomac, Richard, 
of Northumberland County, may be estimated more ex- 
actly than Fantleroy's acreage. In 1663 he had accumu- 
lated nearly 20,000 acres on both sides of the river. 
Among his estates were Stratford, Mock Necke, Mount 
Pleasant, Paradise, Paper Maker's Neck, Bishop's Neck 
and an additional 4,000 acres also on the Potomac. 

Less than forty years later the genuinely baronial 
William Fitzhughof Bedford bequeathed an accountable 
minimum of 45,036 acres in Virginia on the Potomac, 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 75 

besides a trifle of 4,167 acres off the river though in the 
Northern Neck, and "other lands in Virginia, Mary- 
land and England." He appears to have owned lands 
in multiples of one thousand acres on every creek on Ihe 
Virginia shore from Nomini northward nearly sixty 
miles to Occoquon. On the latter creek and its branches 
he was in possession of 21,000 acres. Fitzhugh's 
correspondence reveals that land on the Potomac was 
taken up, under the system of granting patents for a few 
shillings an acre, by residents in England who possibly 
never saw the river. One notable instance of a large 
holding of this character was "Mr. Nicholas Hay ward 
Notary Publick near the Exchange in London" who 
owned 30,000 acres here. 

Compared with such estates the landed possessions 
of George Washington and George Mason farther up 
river appear small, yet both of these planters were 
accounted rich men in the last quarter of the eighteenth 
century. It is true both men owned extensive tracts 
near and beyond the mountains, but Washington's 
Mount Vernon totalled only 8,000 acres and Mason's 
lands on the river did not far exceed 15,000 acres. In 
addition to the 5,000 or so acres of Gunston estate on 
Mason's Neck between Occoquon Bay and Gunston 
Cove, Mason' s principal hold ings w ere several thousan d 
acr es norlheast of M ounjCVjeriion on a part of which 
o ne of his s ons built Haddon Hall; all of Analostan 
Island in the river opposite Georgetown; and land on the 
Maryland shore on Port Tobacco River and, nearer 
his home plantation, on Stump Neck between Chicko- 
muxen and Mattawomen creeks. But small as these 
look compared to the vast holdings of Fitzhugh of 



76 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Bedford, this great landholder's acreage takes second 
place to another of the planters on the Virginia shore. 
Robert Carter, known as "the Councillor," of Nomini 
Hall on the creek of that name, in the eighteenth cen- 
tury accumulated 63,093 acres. 

The factors in the huge fortunes on the Potomac were 
cheap land, cheap labour, and cheap transportation. 
Whether the land was acquired as a royal or proprietary 
favour, or as a bonus for bringing in settlers and labour, 
or as a mere purchase from the Indians, or from royal 
grantees, it was in every instance cheap, so cheap that 
its dirt might well have been the original of the perennial 
comparison, "cheap as dirt." The grantees in the first 
instance reserved great tracts at detached points 
for themselves and practically gave away the interven- 
ing stretches to induct planters, thus enhancing the 
value of their own remnant. 

Cheap labour was based at first on the indentured 
servant, always white, and usually English. In this 
connection "servant" did not mean a menial only. 
It included all who took pay for services. The in- 
dentured-servant class was in a larger sense the first 
plantation labour. There were instances of an inden- 
tured servant descended from the gentry in England, 
and on numerous occasions he was a relative of the 
planter to whom he was pledged. But as a rule he came 
from a varied list which reached from the yeomanry 
class at the top to England's flotsam of undesirables at 
the bottom which produced the well-known "involun- 
tary emigrant," through all sorts of reckless, ambitious, 
incompetent, ne'er-do-well, or adventurous types. In 
proportion to the gold or dross in his character he pros- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 77 

pered and was absorbed into the landholding class or 
slipped back into that unique class for which the New 
World provided a new name, the "poor whites." The 
second element in cheap labour was the African slave. 
Once the first slave ship made its way up river a new 
market was recognized and others followed in quick 
succession. The slave represented a small original in- 
vestment, all his increase was his owner's property, 
and his upkeep was negligible here where the climate 
was mild and "hog and hominy" was practically the 
*'soup to nuts" of his provision. 

Cheap transportation from the river plantations was 
based on many contributing facts. Every plantation, 
in addition to its own landing, had its own warehouse, 
usually a public warehouse, where the shipments were 
carried direct, the leaf was inspected, and the duty paid. 
Here Alsop found that business was done orderly and 
quickly. Not, he wrote, "like these shopkeeper Boys 
in London^ that continually cry, What do ye lack^ Sir? 
What do ye buy? Yelping with so wide a mouth, as if 
some Apothecary had hired their mouths to stand open 
to catch Gnats and Vagabond Flyes in." 

It was exceptional when the depth of water at the 
landing prevented the sea-going ship from coming 
directly alongside, for in colonial days the ships were 
only moderately large and there was in the river even 
more water than now. If, however, the shore water 
happened to be shallow the hogsheads were lightered 
out to the channel. Thereafter there was a minimum 
of handling for the produce was undisturbed until it 
was taken off the ship at the dock of its destination, 
usually in England. 



78 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The planter, moreover, enjoyed the cheapest carriage 
ever devised for overseas, the sailing vessel. Yet the 
Potomac men never were seafaring men in the larger 
sense. They appreciated and loved the river, used and 
enjoyed it, but they were not shipowners or extensive 
shipbuilders and the plantations did not breed mariners. 
In some instances they built moderately large boats for 
river and bay travel, and a few to be sure owned shares 
in ships that sailed between their landings and the ports 
of England. 

The principal crop sustained on this economic tripod 
of cheap land, cheap labour, and cheap transportation 
was tobacco. The planter was tobacco mad and he 
grew tobacco rich. It was the basic crop of every 
plantation, great and small, on both sides of the river. 
There was at first no other crop worth the name. Corn 
was raised only for domestic consumption. The shell 
and finny wealth of the river itself was almost entirely 
neglected in colonial times except for the plantation 
needs. Manufacturing there was none. Virginia and 
Maryland, divided and united by the Potomac, mo- 
nopolized the tobacco culture of the colonies. Tobacco 
was to the Potomac what rice was to Carolina, cotton 
to the colonies farther south, fish and manufacturing to 
New England. Indeed, it may even be said that 
tobacco was to the Potomac what gold was to the 
Yukon. Its establishment as a commercial commodity 
drew the '* rush " from England. Before tobacco pos- 
sibilities were appreciated the river offered no other 
apparent substantial inducement for sober-minded Eng- 
lish to mend their fortunes. 

One of the best contemporary descriptions of colonial 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 79 

tobacco culture was given in 1724 by Hugh Jones in his 
"Present State of Virginia," and the methods and terms 
revealed therein are largely in use to-day: 

" Tobacco requires a great deal of Skill and Trouble 
in the right Management of it. 

"They raife the Plants in Bedsy as we do Cabbage 
Plants; which they tranf plant and replant upon Occa- 
sion after a Shower of Rain, which they call a Seafon. 

" When it is grown up they top it, or nip off the Head, 
Juccour it, or cut off the Ground Leaves, weed it, hill it; 
and when ripe, they cut it down about fix or eight 
Leaves on a Stalk, which they carry into airy Tobacco 
Houjes; after it is withered a little in the Sun, there it is 
hung to dry on Sticks, as Papaer at the Papaer-Mills; 
when it is in proper Cafe, (as they call it) and the Air 
neither too moif t nor too dry, they Jtrihe it, or take it 
down, then cover it up in Bulk, or a great Heap, where 
it lies till they have Leifure or Occafion to ftem it 
(that is pull the Leaves from the Stalk) or ftrip it 
(that is take out the great Fibres) and tie it up in Hands, 
or Jtreight lay it; and fo by Degrees prize or prefs it 
with proper Engines into great Hogfheads, containing 
about fix to eleven hundred Pounds; four of which 
Hogfheads make a Tun, by Dimenfion, not by Weight; 
then it is ready for Sale or Shipping." 

The tobacco containers were made on the plantation. 
This domestic art survives in places along the river 
to-day. As the leaf was a dry article the cooperage 
was "slack" and rather rough. The wood for the 
staves, heading, and hoops was all found on the place 
and included beach, pine, gum, cedar, and all kinds of 
oak. 



80 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The huge hogsheads were not easily handled. In- 
stead of attempting to Hft them to the bed of a wagon 
or cart, the prevaihng method was to roll them by 
horse- and man-power to the landing. Hence the roads 
to the waterside were and still are sometimes called 
"rolling roads," and the warehouse at the landing was 
sometimes called "the rolling house." 

England was not only quick to appreciate the joys 
of the weed for snuffing and smoking, but at once con- 
trolled the exports from the colonies and permitted 
shipments to no other ports than her own. Just as 
tobacco was the dominating crop and England con- 
trolled the market for the crop, so trade with England 
became a conspicuous part of colonial life on the river. 
Other reasons fostered this contact with the old country, 
to be sure. The plantations were English territory 
and the planters were Englishmen only one or two 
generations removed from the ancestral home across 
the sea. Vessels from Glasgow and Bristol and London, 
and in a less degree from other British ports, were al- 
most as familiar in the river as the small ships from the 
bay and adjoining rivers. 

There is, however, evidence of frequent embarrass- 
ment to the planters by reason of insufficient bottoms. 
William Fitzhugh frequently complained of this in his 
letters to his English factor. This was less the case 
in years of high prices for the weed. This same wise 
planter often consigned his commodity to two or three 
ships when he might have consigned it to one. In this 
way he divided the loss in case of shipwreck. 

A phase of shipping as well as of the Potomac plant- 
er's character is illustrated by a passage in a letter 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 81 

from Richard Henry Lee of Chantilly to his brother 
WilHam in London: "There are some capital shippers 
here, that it might be prudent to take much pains by 
writing and other effectual methods to engage. Old 
Col°. Loudon I hear is out with Molleson about his 
refusing to pay a Tradesman a small order of the 
Colonels — You know the old Gentleman — A little 
well applied flattery, contrition for not having cor- 
responded with your God father before, and strong 
assurances of application to his interest in future may 
do great things in your favour. Counsellor Carter 
may by proper address be made a large Shipper. M'. 
Carter of Corotoman has purchased to oblige you. He 
is a person of much consideration. Counsellor Nelson 
had engaged to ship in the Craft that went for your own 
Tobacco, but she did not call on him. Suppose you 
were to thank him for his kind intentions — Both Col'. 
R. Corbin & the Treasurer talk of shipping you a good 
deal next year. Ply them up. You know of what 
weight Col'. Tayloe, M'. Loyd, & the Squire our Squire 
I mean are — M'. Sam. Washington is much your friend, 
he will probably make large crops in Frederick and he 
may be persuaded to bring his Cousin M'. Warner 
Washington to be your correspondent. T. A. Wash- 
ington likes flattery, try him." 

Estimates of the time consumed by a voyage between 
the Potomac and England those days varied. The 
Pilgrims in the Ark and the Dove were three months on 
the way, but they stopped at several islands en route, 
and actually consumed only fifty-one sailing days, 
"which is held a speedy passage,'* according to Gover- 
nor Calvert. In "A Perfect Description of Virginia" 



82 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"Printed for Richard Wodenoth, at the Star under 
Peters Church in Cornhill," London, in 1649, the writer 
says: "the seamen of late years having found a way, 
that now in 5, 6 or 7 weeks they saile to Virginia free 
from all Rocks, Sands and Pirats; and that they return 
home in 20 days sometimes, and 30 at most." Fitz- 
hugh estimated that one ship could be depended upon 
to "readily and easily perform two voyages in one 
year," between his landing opposite Nanjemoy and his 
English factor's wharves. 

On their return voj^age westward for more of the leaf, 
the ships brought every conceivable manufactured 
article of luxury and necessity, at least it would seem so 
from the letters the planters wrote their relatives and 
agents abroad. The Potomac Valley was not given 
to manufacturing. The skippers brought out mer- 
chandise for the planters free of freight, says Hugh 
Jones: "only the party to whom the Goods belong, is 
in Gratitude engaged to freight Tobacco upon the ship 
configned to her owners in England." It is a question 
whether this free freight was a bait of the ship's captain 
or a confirmation of Alsop's estimate of the Maryland 
colonist's character, given in his unfailingly racy man- 
ner: 

"<SiV, If you send any Adventure to this Province, let 
me beg to give you this advice in it; That the Factor 
whom you imploy be a man of a Brain, otherwise the 
Planter will go near to make a Skimming-dish of his 
Skull: I know your Genius can interpret my meaning. 
The people of this place (whether the saltness of the 
Ocean gave them any alteration when they went over 
first, or their continual dwelling under the remote 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 83 

Clyme where they now inhabit, I know not) are a more 
acute people in general, in matters of Trade and Com- 
merce, then in any other place of the World; and by 
their crafty and sure bargaining, do often over-reach 
the raw and unexperienced Merchant. To be short, 
he that undertakes Merchants imployment for Mary- 
land, must have more of Knave in him then Fool; he 
must not be a windling piece of Formality, that will 
lose his Imployers Goods for Conscience sake; nor a 
flashy piece of Prodigality, that will give his Mer- 
chants fine Hollands, Laces, and Silks, to purchase the 
benevolence of a Female: But he must be a man of 
solid confidence, carrying alwayes in his looks the 
Efiigies of an Execution upon Command, if he sup- 
poses a baffle or denyal of payment, where a debt for 
his Imployer is legally due." 

Perhaps Alsop's estimate was accurate, not only as an 
appreciation of Maryland character but Virginian as 
well, for David DeVries, a Dutch traveller, a little be- 
fore him, had remarked: "The English there [Virginia] 
are very hospitable but they are not proper persons to 
trade with. You must look out when you trade with 
them, Peter is always by Paul. . . . For if they can 
deceive anyone they account it among themselves 
a Roman action. They say in their language, *He 
played him an English trick', and then they have them- 
selves esteemed." 

Hugh Jones wrote home much that was undoubtedly 
sound and truthful, but as a prophet in 1724 he missed 
his guess by half a century in these remarks on the 
indissoluble union with the mother country created by 
this colonial trade: "There can be no Room for real 



84 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Apprelicnfion of Danger of a Revolt of the Plantations 
in future Ages: Or if any of them fhould attempt it, 
they might very eafily be reduced by the others; for 
all of them will never unite with one another. . . . 
The Plantations cannot poffibly fubfift without fome 
Trade, Correfpondence, Union, and Alliance in Europe, 
and abfolute Neceffity obliges them to fix thefe per- 
petually in Great Britain. Upon which, as upon a 
Stock, they are ingrafted, fpring forth, bloffom, and bear 
Fruit abundantly, and being once lop'd oflF from it, 
they would foon wither and perifh." 

How a planter's Bill of Lading combined a com- 
mercial statement with a pious hope is witnessed by 
this bill for merchandise shipped from London on a 
clipper-ship Potomac-bound : 

"Shipped by the Grace of God, in good order and 
well conditioned by William Lee in and upon the good 
ship called the Friendship, whereof is Master unto God 
for the present Voyage, William Roman, and now riding 
at Anchor in the river Thames and by God's Grace 
bound for Virginia, to say one case. One Trunk, one 
Box of Merchandise, being marked and numbered as 
in the margin and are to be delivered in like good order 
and well conditioned at the aforesaid Port of Virginia 
(the danger of the sea only excepted) unto Mrs. Anna 
W ashington at Pope's Creek, Potomak River or to her 
assigns. Freight for the said goods being paid with 
Primage and Average accustomed. 

"In witness whereof the Master or Purser of the said 
Ship hath affirmed three Bills of Lading, all of this 
Tenor and Date, the one of which Three Bills being 
accomplished the other two to stand void. And so 




Cross Maxor House 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 85 

God send the good Ship to her desired Port of Safety — 
Amen. 

"Dated at London 24 Dec. 1773. 

"WilHam Roman." 

It dominated not only the soil but life as well. Up to 
the Revolution exchange was in terms of pounds to- 
bacco, the hundred pounds varying from ten to twenty 
shillings value. It is true a coin was designed for 
Calvert and a mint was set up at St. Mary's, but the 
coins are believed to have had little circulation in spite 
of an Act of the Assembly in 1662 requiring every house- 
holder in the Province to buy at least ten shillings for 
every taxable person in the family, and to give tobacco 
for it at the rate of two pence per pound. English and 
Spanish coins shared what circulation was given metal 
money on either shore of the river, which was merely for 
"pocket expenses" as distinguished from general trade. 

Tobacco was the currency with which land was 
bought, and in which taxes, labour, and the clergy were 
paid. Ships were measured in tobacco capacity and 
estates even were inventoried in tobacco valuation. 
The depth of the river itself was sometimes given in like 
terms, as when Lear wrote: "the navigation is easy and 
perfectly safe. A vessel of twelve hundred hogs- 
heads of tobacco has loaded at Alexandria and one of 
seven hundred hogsheads at Georgetown." 

Finally, the inventory of the estate of one Zachary 
Mottershead who died early in 1638 survives and is 
worth repeating as a quaint specimen of tobacco valua- 
tion as well as an index of the wardrobe of one of the 
earliest settlers on the river and one who wrote him- 
self "gentleman": 



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80 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Item, 2 coates 100 

3 shirts 60 

4 towells and 1 pillowber 20 

1 doublctt, 2 pr stockings, 2 linings 12 

7 bands, 2 capps, 4 pair of cuffs, 3 pr boot- 
hose and 1 handkerchief e 10 

" 2 brushes, 1 rule, 16 gold buttons 10 

7 bookes 12 

" 1 pr of boots and spurres 12 

" 1 hatt and capp 30 

" 1 gunne and 2 locks 60 

" 1 bedd, 2 pillows and 1 rugg 80 

" 1 wastcoate 8 

1 chest 30 

" 1 looking glasse, 1 pewter pott, 1 candle- 
stick 6 

1 shirt 16 

I suite of clothes 20 

lbs of tob 516 

Naturally as a currency tobacco was about as un- 
certain a standard as could have been selected. It 
fluctuated with the abundance or leanness of the crops, 
with the character of the season's yield, with the few 
or many bottoms available for its transport, with the 
manipulation of the market by English merchants, 
and with other causes scarcely more stable than wind 
and weather and human nature. In following the 
course of uncertainty, imposition, distress, and means 
of alleviation sought by the planters, one finds that 
the manipulation of tobacco became one of the powerful 
causes of that resentment and protest in the hearts 
of the colonists which strengthened and ripened into the 
open and successful Revolution which established the 
first American Republic. 



CHAPTER VI 

Manors of Maryland — The Lord Proprietor's Manors — St. Inigoes 
— Cross Manor — Porto Bello — Evelynton Manor — Little 
Bretton and Beggar's Neck — St. Clement's Manor — Basford 
Manor — Chaptico Manor — Wolleston Manor — Port Tobacco 
Neighbourhood — Nanjemoy — Warburton Manor and Pisca- 
taway Neighbourhood — Original Manor Lands Where the 
Landings End. 

THE right to use the word "manor," with Hteral 
significance as a part of the name of a plantation 
or estate, is, in the United States, the exclusive 
privilege of certain lands and houses descending from 
the colonists of Maryland and New York. The manor- 
ial system was not established in any other colony, 
though it is known to have appeared in certain grants 
in the Carolinas and Virginia. Elsewhere the word 
crops up, but it only represents the owner's fancy for 
the name or, at most, his sentiment in recalling an 
ancestral seat in the old country. 

The original Maryland manors represented a land 
holding rather than merely a plantation. From the 
original manorial grant, land was rented, leased, and 
sold, and these fractions were given names, but it was 
only the original manor house which rated attaching 
the word "manor" to its individual name. Often the 
lord of the manor and his descendants kept a large 
acreage about the manor house as a family plantation. 
Some of these have descended practically unbroken, 
whence it comes that the manors, even in later days, 

87 



88 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

represent the plantations of important and sometimes 
rich famihes. 

Whatever the earher manor houses may have been, 
and for the first few years they were probably rude 
enough when any at all was built by Lord Baltimore's 
first favourites who received grants of the choicest 
river sites near its mouth, the rights attaching to the 
manor lands and the dignities attaching to the lords 
of the manor were precise and sufficiently autocratic. 
Privileged as he was, to hold court and, as judge, to 
pass on all civil and criminal questions arising on his 
manor, his lordship was indeed a baron and held in his 
hand the powers of freedom and restraint, of life and 
death. It is true that the elective judicial system 
superceded the Courts Baron and Leet early in river 
history, but in the original instance, the medieval 
privileges did pass to the manors with the proprietor's 
grant and are known to have been exercised. 

A manor, therefore, represented not only a vast hold- 
ing in units of thousands of acres, but it represented also 
distinguished judicial authority, and the names of the 
manors of Maryland reflect a sense of this in their 
unfailing dignity. The fashion of giving a name to 
every country habitation was brought into all the 
southern colonies where the English came. Hence in 
Maryland not only were manors named but, as they 
were divided, the tenants and smaller land owners 
named their houses after their own fashion. 

There is a marked difference between the character of 
the names of the manors and of the small plantations. 
If the former are unfailingly dignified the latter are 
often amusing. Scattered along the river shore were 






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POTOMAC LANDINGS 89 

hundreds of little plantations whose names survive 
only in the county records, in old wills and deeds and 
suits-at-law. They are full of character, some descrip- 
tive of the owner, some descriptive of his experiment, 
some descriptive of his appreciation of his place. Some 
indicate natural characteristics, locations in relation to 
the water or other geographical features. Amusing 
as some may be, looked at through the dim spectrum 
of the vanished past, others are sadly suggestive of 
futile hopes and snaring follies. 

The following names of places are a few gleaned from 
old Maryland records of the three tidewater Potomac 
counties: Docker's Delight, Subtill's Rest, Daily De- 
sire, Hepbourne's Choice, Internment (there is a Res- 
urrection Manor not far away on the Patuxent), 
Governor's Gust, Yaylor's Chance, Bachelor's Rest, 
Hogg's Neck, Tattershall's Gift, Clear Doute, Foxes 
Den, White Acre, Long Neck, New Bottle, Heart's 
Desire, Outlet, Meeting Forever, Stanhope's Neglect, 
Beaver Dam, Baltimore's Gift, James' Gift, Middle 
Plantation, Charley, Haly's Lot, Little St. Thomas, 
Small Hopes, Friendship, Mudd's Rest, Damfrit, The 
Expectation, No Design, Come By Chance, Hawkins' 
Barrens, Goat's Lodge, Wakefield's Beginnings, Want 
Water, Cane's Purchase, Dog's Point, W'arren's Dis- 
covery, Bullett's Folly, Hatton's Point, Wheeler's 
Rest, Planter's Delight, Mayor's Choice, The Pasture, 
Park's Meadow, Groome's Lodge, Her Grove, Bread 
and Cheese Hall, and other Discoveries, Rests, Choices, 
Hopes, Delights, and Follies by the score. 

In comparison with these modest and often flippant 
or futile names which not infrequently suggest a log 



90 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

cabin in a field of clay or a shiftless pine shack with 
weather-warped clapboards, the manor names stand 
for all their acres, privileges, and powers. The ardent 
Catholics among the first grantees usually named their 
manor lands for a patron saint. Other sources of names 
were ancestral seats or lands across the sea, a wife's 
maiden name, or a distinguishing physical characteris- 
tic. 

The first land taken up was the point washed by the 
Chesapeake and the Potomac. Just below the mouth 
of the St. Mary's River is a forked inlet about two miles 
long, generally known as Smith's Creek, though some- 
times as Trinity Creek. A line drawn due east from 
the head of this creek marks the northern boundary of 
three manors, St. Michael's, St. Gabriel's, and Trinity, 
granted by the Lord Proprietor to his brother, Governor 
Leonard Calvert. Across Smith's Creek, on the long 
narrow peninsula washed on its west side by St. Mary's 
River, was St. Elisabeth's Manor, a tract of 2,000 acres 
granted to Thomas Cornwallis, a mighty man in his 
day. Next above on the east shore of the St. Mary's 
were the 3,000 acres of St. Inigoes, which also included 
the " 1,000 acres" of St. George's Island on the opposite 
side of the mouth of the St. Mary's, and north and east, 
washed by St. Inigoes Creek, was Cross Manor of 
2,000 acres, an additional holding of Thomas Corn- 
wallis. This accounted for all the land south and east 
of the little capital and its immediate environs. 

There are two interesting survivals in Calvert's Rest, 
on Calvert's Bay, with its chimneys forming almost 
the entire ends of the old frame building; and the Cross 
Manor house of brick. Nearly three centuries have 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 91 

so renewed and modified these houses that it is not 
possible to conjecture, much less to define the originals. 
Cross Manor is accounted the older of the two and, 
indeed, the oldest house in Maryland. If this be true, 
then it is also, probably, the oldest house on all the 
Potomac. 

Calvert's Rest was the home of William Calvert, son 
of the first governor, and here, as Deputy Governor 
of the Colony, he prepared many of the early proclama- 
tions. He met his death by drowning, possibly 
in the river close to which his house stands. Jutland, 
on St. Elisabeth's Manor, was the early home of the 
Honourable William Bladen who throughout his life 
seems not to have been out of public office. He dis- 
tinguished himself permanently, however, by making 
the first compilation of the laws of Maryland and as 
"the first public printer of the Province." He is, 
moreover, at the root of some of the most aristocratic 
family trees of this colony. 

Sailing up the St. Mary's one finds on the right Fort 
Point whose name, attached to a now barren spot, 
suggests nevertheless the first fort, called St. Inigoes, 
placed here in the earliest days to guard the capital. 
Every ship of "English, duch or any other fforreiners 
whatsoever having a deck or decks flush fore & aft" 
that passed was required to pay tribute of half a pound 
of powder and two pounds of shot to that stronghold 
and to ride at anchor for two whole tides, both coming 
and going, "within command of the fort." The "mur- 
therers" or great guns mounted on Fort St. Inigoes were 
fired to intercept the passing vessel, to call the settlers 
into the fort for protection from threatening savages or, 



92 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

more peacefully, to salute on occasions of high cere- 
monials. They have not all perished though the fort 
is no more. One of them is on the State House Green 
at Annapolis. Two others are among valuable relics 
of old St. Mary's preserved at Georgetown University 
at the other end of tidewater Potomac. A fourth is 
said still to be in service on its old manor home; not, 
however, to bark warnings or salutes, but in peaceable 
employment as a boundary mark. St. Inigoes manor 
house with its four great chimneys, its chateau-like 
sweep of roof and its columned portico, survived for 
centuries a riverside landmark, to be devoured at last, 
and not so long ago, by fire. Nearer the water stood 
its quaint Dutch windmill which, naturally enough, 
succumbed to water. Not, however, to its own excesses. 
It was undermined by the wash of the corroding tides 
and eventually went to a watery grave. 

Adjacent to Grason's Landing in St. Inigoes Creek is 
venerable Cross manor house, whose foundations were 
laid by Captain Thomas Cornwallis (or in the blithe 
versatility of the archives: Cornwayles, Cornwallys, 
and Cornewallis). He arrived with the first settlers 
in 1634 and received his two manors of 4,000 acres for 
transporting immigrants into the province the first 
year. He was a member of His Lordship's council, his 
name appearing first after the Lieutenant General's 
in the list of the first Assembly, and he was accounted 
the wealthiest planter in this first generation of white 
men on the Potomac. Ridgeley says that several 
stories are told to account for the manor's name: *'one 
of them is that, early in the days of the Virginia Com- 
pany, a party was sent to explore the rivers and creeks 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 93 

north of the Potomac, and as they did not return, a 
second party went in search of them, and found their 
dead bodies on the sandy beach where they had been 
murdered by the Indians. A cross was here erected 
to mark their place of burial, and Cornwallej's, finding 
this cross, named his manor after it. Another story, 
equally tragic, is that Cornwallis, while one day hunting 
with his dearest friend accidentally shot him. A cross 
was raised to his memory, and Cornwallis ever after- 
wards lived a recluse." 

The north shore of St. Inigoes Creek and the land 
along the St. Mary's, as far as the site of the ancient 
capital, comprised the southern outskirts of the little 
city. The holdings were small and the divisions were 
naturally numerous. Something about these vanished 
suburbs as well as about the City of St. Mary's itself 
will be found later in connection with the consideration 
of the towns on the river. 

Across the St. Mary's from the capital were lands of 
the proprietor. The most interesting evolution was 
the estate of Porto Bello. This colonial home survives, 
and in it is found an excellent specimen of a pent-house 
*'of such ample dimensions, extending into the cellar, 
as might shelter two or three fugitives." Its name 
recalls the adventure of several Potomac River lads 
early in the eighteenth century. They were Lawrence 
Washington, Edwin Coade, and William Hebb, mid- 
shipmen in the British navy. They were attached to 
the command of Admiral Vernon and fought with 
him at Porto Bello and Carthagena. When they re- 
turned home, young Washington built himself a house 
on the river which he named Mount Vernon after his 



94 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

commander; William Ilebb called his place Carthagena 
which has succumbed to the more modern name of 
Hatton's Corbett; and Edwin Coade perpetuated his 
experience in the West Indian campaign by naming 
his place Porto Bello. William Hebb is buried in a 
well-preserved sarcophagus on Porto Bello. On his 
Carthagena lands, near the head of Carthagena Creek, 
is a quaint veteran of a small house, built of brick, and 
bearing in the brickwork of its south front, set three 
feet high in dark glazed headers, the initials W. H., 
carrying the strong presumption that the house was 
built by William Hebb early in the eighteenth century. 

One of the most uncompromisingly low stretches on 
the Potomac is behind Piney Point where the land, 
when seen from a distance, seems scarcely to rise above 
the level of the water but merely to indicate its presence 
by tree-tops. This was Evelynton Manor, granted 
in 1637 to Captain George Evelyn. Just beyond, how- 
ever, the higher lands approach the river and the 
beautiful mansion of Mulberry Fields surveys the neigh- 
bourhood which for centuries has taken its identifica- 
tion from an old poplar tree near by. Poplar Hill 
Hundred was one of the earliest settlements after St. 
Mary's; Poplar Hill Creek puts in just west of Mulberry 
Fields' water-front; and Poplar Hill Church was the 
second Protestant church building in Maryland. The 
original church was built in 1642 and the present edifice 
in 1750. 

Between the mouths of Bretton Bay and St. Clem- 
ent's Bay there is a long low peninsula now known vari- 
ously as Newtown Neck and Beggar's Neck. Origi- 
nally this was the Manor of Little Bretton, granted to 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 95 

William Bretton who came to the Potomac in 1637. 
The lord of Little Bretton was a figure in the early 
days. He was a member of the Assembly and was 
twice its clerk. "With the hearty good liking of his 
wife," Temperence Bretton, he gave the Catholic 
colonists a piece of ground on his manor, "near to ye 
narrowest part of ye freehold of Little Bretton, com- 
monly called ye Straits," on which they erected the 
chapel of St. Ignatius and in which they buried their 
dead. The chapel disappeared long ago but there are 
evidences of the cemetery. Not only did Bretton 
give his name to the bay east of his manor lands, but 
the history of his later reverses is perpetuated in the 
later name of the land. He died in poverty and his 
children became the objects of charity, wherefore the 
manor lands were later known as Beggar's Neck. 

The large neck of land across St. Clement's Bay from 
the peninsula of the unfortunate Bretton embraced 
some of the most interesting grants and subdivisions 
and houses of early Maryland. Rather more than half 
of this tract, and fronting on the Potomac itself, was 
St. Clement's Manor. In the northern portion of the 
neck, on the Wicomico and Chaptico Bay, was Basford 
Manor. These have already been referred to briefly 
in the preceding chapter. Across Chaptico Bay from 
Basford Manor lay the 61,000 acres of the Proprietor's 
manor of Chaptico. 

St. Clement's vast acreage extended up the bay of 
the same name as far as Tomaquoakin Creek and up 
the Wicomico as far as Gerrard's Creek. It was 
granted to "Thomas Gerrard Gent." in 1639. The 
lord of this manor was a member of the Governor's 



96 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Council and one of the big figures of the days of the 
settlement. It is believed that he resided at Brambly 
but the original dwelling has long since disappeared. 
Many celebrated estates grew out of St. Clement's. 
Thomas notes Longworth Point, the Blackistone home- 
stead and the residence of Nehemiah Blackistone when 
President of the Council in 1690; St. John, the Gardiner 
homestead; Little Hackley, the Shanks homestead; 
Bluff Point, the Coade homestead; Mattapany, the 
Chesildine homestead; and Bush wood, the Slye home- 
stead. The last-named house survives, one of the most 
interesting on this side of the river. Its stairway, still 
intact, presents a singular pattern, having been built 
without either rails or posts. It has been attributed 
to Bowen, who was among the "King's prisoners" 
transported to the colony. The stairway rises to an 
upper hall which is exhibited as one of the few remain- 
ing chapels where the Catholics assembled for private 
celebration of Mass during the period when public wor- 
ship was denied them. 

Apart from its exceptional size St. Clement's Manor 
challenges attention on several especial counts. On 
St. Clement's Island (now Blackistone's), which was a 
part of the Gerrard grant, was made the first landing 
of the pilgrims who arrived in the Ark and the Dove. It 
is unique among Maryland manors as the only one whose 
records have survived with any degree of complete- 
ness. They are preserved in the archives of the Mary- 
land Historical Society and furnish in quaint old English 
the exact details of the procedure of Courts Baron and 
Leet in the days when the lords of the manor exercised 
their prerogatives. St. Clement's was also the scene of 




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POTOMAC LANDINGS 97 

significant events in the Protestant Rebellion of 1659 
against Catholic control at St. Mary's, for on its lands 
Fendall made his proclamation as Governor of the 
little Republic of Maryland, and here were mustered 
the soldiers who set out thence to capture, and did 
capture, the capital at St. Mary's. 

Within sight of Bush wood to the north and over- 
looking the Wicomico, stood, until some time in the 
last century, Notley Hall, home of Governor Thomas 
Notley and later of a Lord and Lady Baltimore. In 
this same neighbourhood, at one time, stood Bushwood 
Lodge which claims the attention of all patriots as the 
homestead of the first of the Key family to come to 
the New World. This was Philip Key, the great-grand- 
father of Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star- 
Spangled Banner." Members of the same family 
lived in Tudor Hall, a mansion which stands on the 
edge of Leonardtown overlooking Bretton Bay. It 
is individualized by a curiously inset portico. The 
family tomb may be found in the rear of Christ Church 
at Chaptico and near by rests, it is to be hoped, an 
eccentric pirate who directed that he should be "planted 
in an upright position." 

Fifteen bushels of corn was the annual quit-rent for 
the more than fifteen hundred acres of Basford Manor 
which was also a possession of Thomas Gerrard. Two 
beautiful seats rose on these lands on the high ground 
in the angle between the Wicomico and Chaptico Bay. 
One was the manor house overlooking the river and the 
other was a lodge called Bachelor's Hope. Like other 
old houses on the Potomac the manor house withstood 
the natural vicissitudes of centuries to fall an eventual 



98 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

victim to the accident of fire. It is remembered as 
a frame mansion with brick gables and a steep gambrel 
roof and within it was enriched by much handsome 
carved woodwork. Bachelor's Hope survives and it is 
one of the quaintest specimens of early colonial build- 
ing on the river. This lodge is built of brick, in part 
glazed, whose green and purple tints give renewed 
evidence of early acquaintance with the now so pop- 
ular tapestry effects to be secured in brickwork. 
The outside stairway is a unique feature. It rises 
within the columned portico and terminates inside 
the house in the upper hall from whose gallery one 
may look down upon the lower central hall. The 
roof lines of Bachelor's Hope are quite individual. 
The first story is extensive for a small compact house, 
but only the central portion rises to two stories. This 
upper story supports a steep roof and is itself supported 
by fine chimneys and the steep pyramidal roofs from 
the first story on each side. This lodge passed from Sir 
Thomas Notley to Colonel Benjamin Rozier, husband 
of Lady Baltimore's daughter, Anne Sewall. Governor 
Notley 's own seat, Notley Hall, was on the Wicomico, 
and in this neighbourhood is the estate of Deep Falls, 
formerly Wales, which has been the home of the Thomas 
family uninterruptedly since the date of its patent. 

The lands of Wolleston Manor complete this inter- 
esting group about the Wicomico. They comprised 
2,000 acres on the peninsula between the Potomac 
and the Wicomico on the west side of the estuary, 
and were granted in 1641-1642 to Captain James Neale, 
a man able in his own right and the progenitor of some 
of the leading families of Maryland and Virginia. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 99 

Neale came to the Potomac about 1636 from London. 
His ability was at once recognized by the Governor for 
whom he performed many commissions in addition to 
his definite pubHc services as a member of the Assembly, 
as one of the Governor's Council, and as commissioner 
of His Lordship's Treasury. He married Anne Gill and 
with her returned to Europe, There they remained 
about fourteen years, principally in Spain and Portugal, 
where he represented the King of England and the Duke 
of York in various matters. Captain Neale and his 
wife were prime favourites with English royalty, and 
it is a tradition in the family that Anne Neale was a 
maid of honour to Queen Henrietta Maria, and that 
the Queen acted as godmother to her daughter Hen- 
rietta Maria Neale who became one of the notable 
women of the colonies. Among the heirlooms in the 
family are a ring said to have been given to Anne 
Neale by her royal patron and a monstrance token of 
her devotion to the Catholic Church. "This ring," 
says Mrs. Richardson, "which was made to fit a very 
slender finger, is of the same general design of the 
Jacobean rings worn by the friends and adherents of 
King Charles I of England. This has always descended 
in the female line. It is quaint, with a device of skull 
and cross bones, and has a secret spring which when 
pressed reveals a tiny but exquisitely painted miniature 
of the martyr king and dated January 30, 1648 (O. S.)." 

When the Neales returned to Wolleston Manor in 
1660 they brought their five children — Henrietta Maria, 
James, Dorothy, Anthony, and Jane — all born abroad, 
for whom the Captain petitioned and received natural- 
ization. The charms of the girls at once attracted 



100 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

suitors not only from the great Potomac families but 
from other parts of Maryland and Virginia. Henrietta 
Maria Neale first married Richard Bennett, Jr., son 
of the governor of Virginia and their son Richard be- 
came one of the richest men in all the colonies. Her 
second husband was Colonel Philemon Lloyd of Mary- 
land. Her daughter Ehzabeth married Colonel Charles 
Scarborough and her daughter Anne married Theodoric 
Bland, a man of whom it was said that he was *'in 
understanding and learning inferior to no man in 
Virginia." Among Henrietta Maria Neale Bennett's 
descendants in Virginia were John Randolph, of 
Roanoke; Richard Bland, member of the first congress 
at Philadelphia; Theodoric Bland, Colonel in the Revo- 
lutionary Army; Henry St. George Tucker, President of 
the Virginia Court of Appeals; John Randolph Tucker, 
Attorney General of Virginia; General "Light-Horse 
Harry" Lee of the Revolutionary Army; and Robert 
E. Lee, Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate States 
Army. Dorothy became the wife of Roger Brooke 
of the family of De La Brooke Manor on the Patuxent. 
Anthony married first Elizabeth Roswell and second 
Elizabeth daughter of Colonel William Digges. Jane 
became the wife of William Boarman. James Neale, 
Jr., the eldest son, married Elizabeth the granddaughter 
of Governor Calvert, and became heir to the lordship 
of Wolleston Manor. The greatness of this family 
survived everywhere apparently except on the acres 
of old Wolleston. Here the only reminder of the 
Counsellor and Treasurer and of the god-child of the 
queen is the name of the little strip of water behind 
Cobb's Point known as Neale's Sound. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 105 

tained over 2,800 acres. A part of this land appears 
to have been known later as Poynton Manor. An- 
other part, known as Equality, was the home and burial 
place of Samuel Hanson, one of the founders of the dis- 
tinguished family of that name. Other Hanson places 
near by were Green Hill later known as Hanson's Hill, 
Mulberry Grove, and Harwood. Beautiful Oxon Hill, 
farther up river in Prince George's County, was early 
a Hanson seat. 

The Hansons came to upper tidewater Potomac in 
the second half of the seventeenth century, and were 
distinguished through generation after generation. The 
wife of Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was a Miss 
Hanson, and another Miss Hanson was the mother of 
Thomas Stone, Signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. The grandson of the immigrant, and like him 
named John Hanson, was a leader in Revolutionary 
affairs. He filled one public and patriotic post after 
another until in his capacity as President of the Con- 
tinental Congress he welcomed General Washington 
officially on his return from receiving the surrender of 
Cornwallis. His title was " The President of the United 
States in Congress Assembled." His son, Alexander 
Contee Hanson, was one of Washington's private 
secretaries, and, after a distinguished judicial career, 
he compiled the laws of Maryland at the request of 
the Legislature. They are known as Hanson's Laws. 
Both Presidents Harrison were descendants of this 
family, and closely akin were President Grover Cleve- 
land, Samuel J. Tilden, and other notables. 

At some unidentified point in this neighbourhood was 
born Admiral Raphael Semmes who commanded the 



106 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Confederate cruiser Alabama in its historic fight with 
the Kcarsarge. His early jxars were spent at Efton 
Hills. 

Not far from the Nanjemoy manors along "Small- 
wood's Church Road," put through in the eighteenth 
century, but a much longer way round by the river, is 
Small wood's Retreat on Mattawomen Creek. The 
first of the Smallwoods here was Major James who 
came to this point in 1G81 and became a member of 
the Assembly in 1690. His son Bayne followed him 
later in the i\ssembly and his grandson was the Revolu- 
tionary General William Smallwood. Near the shore 
of the river the Sons of the Revolution have placed a 
monument to mark the supposed burial place of this 
great man who was commissioned Colonel in 1776, 
Brigadier General in 1777, Major General in 1780, and 
was elected Governor of Maryland in 1785. Masons 
and Alexanders and Chapmans were neighbours of 
the Smallwoods, and the Chapmans had a fine seat a 
few miles farther up river on the south side of Pomunky 
Creek from which they commanded a vast water 
view in both directions. The mansion is called Mount 
Aventine. 

Here the Potomac turns northwest again and then 
very shortly to the northeast, and soon the mouth of 
Piscataway Creek opens another lovely vista. It 
was into these waters that Governor Leonard Calvert 
came in search of a proper site for the first settlement 
of the Baltimore colony. Here for years Father White 
dwelt a missionary among the Indians. Once a town 
threatened to rise at its head and did rise to the 
distinction of a theatrical performance by the cele- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 107 

brated company of players from Annapolis, one of 
the earliest theatrical companies on this side of the 
Atlantic. 

Among the old estates along this inlet were Locust 
Thicket, Stoney Harbour, and Piscataway Forest, 
but the two that hold the largest interest lay on or 
near its union with the river. Just south and west 
of the mouth of Piscataway Creek is Marshall Hall, 
ancient seat of the Marshalls of Maryland. Its land 
was probably the five hundred acres called "Marshall," 
survey of which appears in Lord Baltimore's rent rolls 
as granted William Marshall in 1651. When William 
bequeathed his five hundred acres in Charles County 
to his wife in 1673 he called it "Two Friends." His 
son William willed "Piscataway" to his widow. The 
Marshalls married Hansons, and Charles Hanson 
Marshall of Marshall Hall has kept himself remembered 
for a land controversy which he had with neighbour 
George Washington of Mount Vernon across the river, 
a controversy in which Marshall did not come out 
second best. 

On the promontory on the north lip of the mouth of 
this creek near where now stand the aged, gray, and 
obsolete bastions of Fort Washington once stood War- 
burton Manor house. This was the seat of one branch 
of the Digges family whose sons in Virginia as well as 
in Maryland were prominent in colonial and revolution- 
ary affairs. The first Digges of Warburton was William 
descendant of Edward Digges, a member of the Council 
and in 1650 Governor of the Colony, and of "Sir 
Dudley Digges, Knt. and Bart., Master of the Rolls 
in the reign of King Charles I." On his own part 



108 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

William was a member of the Council and Deputy 
Governor of the Province in the absence of Lord Balti- 
more in England, and in command of the capital at 
the mouth of the river during the Protestant Revolution. 
His son, George of Warburton, added lustre to the 
family name by his character and attainments. He was 
the "neighbour Digges" of Washington's letters. 
When the Continental Congress desired to send a con- 
fidential representative to the Court of St. James's, 
Washington backed his son, Thomas Atwood Digges, 
who received the hazardous but complimentary com- 
mission. He was no stranger to London for he spent 
much of his youth there and was known as '*the hand- 
some American," an epithet confirmed by his portrait 
ascribed to Sir Joshua Reynolds. The intercourse 
between Mount Vernon and Warburton Manor was 
at all times intimate. Washington, in going to Phila- 
delphia and New York, frequently made Warburton 
the Maryland landing point when crossing the river. 
On such occasions the President would have his coach 
and horses sent over the night before to be in readiness 
for his later arrival. He would be rowed across in his 
barge next morning. There was a code of signals be- 
tween Warburton and Mount Vernon. When either 
had guests for the other their barges, manned by slaves 
in checked shirts and black velvet caps, would shoot 
from the opposite shores and meet in midstream where 
the passengers were exchanged. 

The City of Washington is in plain sight of Warbur- 
ton Manor lands and there is an interesting connection 
between these two historic Potomac points. The 
capital city was planned by a Frenchman, Major 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 109 

Charles L'Enfant, who was later commissioned to 
plan Fort Washington. When he undertook this work 
he went to Warburton Manor and resided there for 
seven years as the guest of his friend Thomas Digges 
whose nephew, W^illiam Digges, later gave the French- 
man asylum in his home, Green Hill (later known as 
Riggs' Farm), on the Sligo branch of the Anacostia 
River. There the creator of the plans of the national 
capital died and there he was buried. Later his re- 
mains were removed to Arlington and rest on the brow 
of the hill overlooking the city the plan of which his 
genius conceived. 

Before leaving Piscataway neighbourhood there 
remains to tell of Mount Airy, the seat of Benedict 
Calvert. The old mansion survives, rich in its associa- 
tion with colonial bigwigs of the Potomac. It stands 
on a plantation known in early records as "His Lord- 
ship's Kindness," and though not strictly a Potomac 
River estate it borders on the "ffreshes of Piscataway" 
and by other ties partook of the neighbourhood life 
of the great river. It was a favourite stopping place 
for General and Mrs. W^ashington when travelling 
between Philadelphia, Annapolis, and Mount Vernon. 
Mrs. Washington's son, John Parke Custis, on his trips 
between Mount Vernon and his schools in Annapolis, 
Princeton, and New York, stopped here frequently. 
Out of these visits grew a romance, and eventually 
young Custis married Eleanor Calvert and took her 
to live at Abingdon on the Potomac, of which something 
remains to be told in connection with the homes on the 
Virginia side of the river. 

Estates of historic distinction between Oxon Creek 



110 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and Anacostia River were Oxon Hill, Gisborough, 
St. Elizabeth's, and Blue Plains. All date back into 
the seventeenth century and Lord Baltimore was the 
original grantor. All overlooked the Potomac at or 
near the mouth of the Anacostia River except Oxon 
Hill which lay on the high ground on the north side 
of the mouth of O i Creek opposite the city of Alex- 
andria. Its fine mansion was a river landmark until 
it was destroyed by fire in 1895. This was one of the 
seats of the Addisons, relatives of Joseph Addison of 
Spectator fame and of most of the colonial aristocrats 
of Maryland and Virginia. It is sometimes spoken 
of as Addison Manor. 

Two miles above the Anacostia River or Eastern 
Branch, the Potomac turns to the west under the 
heights of Georgetown and soon thereafter its tidewater 
reach terminates in the narrows below the Falls. Most 
of the shore between these points, which formerly was 
wholly within the jurisdiction of Maryland, is now in 
the District of Columbia. Its lands were familiar to 
the earliest Maryland colonists and some of the river 
front was embraced in manors. One of the most con- 
spicuous of these was Duddington Manor, of 1,000 
acres, dating to 1663, which extended along the north 
side of the Anacostia and inland so far as to embrace 
the site of thejpresent Capitol of the United States. 
This was the seat of Daniel Carroll, the great-uncle of 
Charles Carroll of Carroll ton. Signer of the Declaration 
of Independence. Other early grants of large tracts, 
extending up the Potomac above Duddington Manor, 
were The Father's Gift, White Haven, The Widow's 
Mite, and St. Philipjand St. Jacob. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 111 

This concludes the Maryland half of this brief in- 
dication of the more important estates which were 
washed by the Potomac. The current of the narrative 
now carries back to the river's mouth in order to sketch 
in the plantations and mansions and celebrated char- 
acters who made history on the Virginia shore. 

1. »x« 



N 



CHAPTER \ II 

Plantations and Mansions on the Virginia Shore — Northumberland 
House and Mantua — Wilton, Pecatone, Bushfield, Hickory 
Hill, Stratford, and other Westmoreland Seats — Lees in Public 
Life — Birthplace of Washington, Madison, and Monroe — 
Chotank and the Fitzhughs — Aquia and the Brents — Leesyl- 
vania and "Light-Horse Harry " — Belle Air and Parson Weems 
— Gunston Hall — Mount Vernon, Abingdon, Woodlawn 
Mansion, Tudor Place, and Arlington. 

THE tide of civilization crept up the Virginia 
side of the Potomac a trifle more slowly than on 
the opposite shore. The presence of the capital 
of the colony of Maryland on the river gave the shore 
on that side the value of proximity to the centre of 
things. The Virginians' outlook from their "centre 
of things" on the James perceived the Potomac dimly, 
days' of travel distant on the northern extremity of 
their colony, a wilderness given over to savages. But, 
at any rate, it was known at Jamestown. 

The traders who sailed north and "trucked" for 
corn and fur among the Potomac Indians must have 
carried stimulating accounts of the salubrious high- 
lands back to those in the south whose flat lands rose 
only a few feet above the water's edge. The presence 
of the tax-dodging Maryland immigrants on the Coan 
was not without its influence. These were factors at 
home, and in England the narrative of Captain Smith 
and the Relation of Father White must have made 
the Potomac a topic. 

112 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 113 

If the Virginians were somewhat tardy in arriving 
in the Potomac, however, once they started they came 
with a rush and remained and builded strong and 
handsomely, and produced here a civiHzation reflecting 
the best traditions of England and a group of men un- 
surpassed elsewhere in an equal area in any of the 
colonies. 

Scarcely is the broad entrance of the big river passed 
when, on the left hand, the deep waters and protected 
landings of Coan River invite to anchorage. On the 
east bank of this inlet and looking out from its raised 
position over a wide panorama stands Mantua, em- 
bodiment of all that remains of the principal pioneer 
of Northumberland County on the Potomac. It is 
said that the foundations of lovely Mantua are built 
of the ancient bricks of the ruins of Northumberland 
House which rose near by on the Potomac shore but 
crumbled and disappeared as have the notable family 
of Presley whose seat it was. Mr. Presley probably 
came across the river with the immigrants from Mary- 
land for he appeared among the earliest settlers and 
was their first representative in the House of Burgesses 
in 1647. Beyond this all that appears to be known of 
the doughty builder of Northumberland House is that 
he was murdered there by his servants, from which 
gruesome history one turns with a lively relief to the 
tale of Captain Harry Thornton. 

Captain Thornton whose mother was a Miss Presley 
of this old house lived farther up the Northern Neck on 
his estate called North Garden. He was, relates Lan- 
caster, " a gentleman devoted to racing and other sports, 
in consequence of which his estate became seriously in- 



114 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

volved. The line between Caroline and Spotsylvania 
counties runs through the North Garden yard, and the 
story goes that when the sheriff of either county would 
come to arrest him for debt, he would simply step over 
the line into the other county. One day the sheriffs of 
both counties came at the same time and the gay cap- 
tain's gay life of freedom seemed doomed to be brought 
to a close. Appearing to give up all hope of escape he 
ordered his^horse (which unknown to the sheriffs was a 
racing mare famous for speed) and rode quietly off be- 
tween his captors. After riding for a mile or so, he 
stopped, pretending to arrange a stirrup leather, while 
the sheriffs went ahead for a few yards; when, wheeling 
his horse about, the captain raised his hat and with a 
polite * Gentlemen, I have the honour to wish you a very 
good day,' galloped off at a speed which the sheriffs 
knew they could not equal, and so escaped." 

The estuary next above the Coan is the Yeocomico 
and here the line is crossed into Westmoreland County, 
which extends up this shore for about thirty miles. 
The sons of English and French families who settled 
here founded one of the most distinguished intellectual, 
social, and historic groups in colonial America. Along 
this stretch of shore was the land of the Washingtons. 
Lees, Corbins, Fantleroys, Ashtons, Turbervilles, Mar- 
shalls, Carters, Monroes, and others as highly esteemed 
in Virginia if not so widely known beyond the old 
dominion. Westmoreland was referred to in the eigh- 
teenth century as the Athens of Virginia. 

Between the Yeocomico and the Lower Machodic 
River was Sandy Point, the colonial plantation of 
Colonel George Eskridge, guardian of Mary Ball, the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 115 

mother of George Washington; Hominy Hall, an 
Aylett house and the birthplace of the first Mrs. Rich- 
ard Henry Lee of Chantilly; Springfield, the seat of 
General Alexander Parker, an important ally of General 
Wayne in the Revolution; Wilton, a venerable and 
charming survival on Jackson's Creek; Pecatone, of 
the Corbins and Turbervilles, dating from 1650; and 
at Cole's Point, presumably the Salisbury Park of 
Richard Cole resident on the Potomac in 1659. 

Many are the quaint traditions of the dwellers in 
old Pecatone. The compiler of Lee of Virginia quotes 
a writer on Westmoreland as saying: "Many wild 
stories were told, in my youth, of how a lady owner 
(Mrs. George Turberville) played the part of a petty 
tyrant among her overseers and negroes, confining 
the former in her dungeons beneath the house, and the 
latter sometimes whipped to death ! How she travelled 
at night in her coach and four, armed with pistols and 
guns. How, in the last days of her recklessness, she, 
her coach and coachmen were borne aloft in a terrible 
hurricane, and lost to sight. From that day the house 
remained unoccupied for years. Then, in popular 
opinion, it was haunted: lights were seen passing from 
room to room, and awful groans and shrieks at night 
would assail the ears of the luckless traveller who hap- 
pened to be in the vicinity." This seems to have been 
the sprightly tempered Mrs. George Turberville who, 
in addition to "pistols and guns," carried axes when 
she went abroad in her coach to "remove all obstruc- 
tions." 

George Turberville of Pecatone seems to have been 
of an equally positive temper. Fithian, in his diary 



116 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

written while a tutor at Nomini Hall, noted: "Mr. 
Carter dined at Squire Lees some few weeks ago; at 
the same place, that day, dined also Mr. George Turber- 
ville and his wife As Mr. Carter rode up he ob- 
served INIr. Turberville's Coach-man sitting on the 
Chariot Box, the Horses off — After he had made his 
compliments in the House, he had occasion soon after 
to go to the door, when he saw the Coachman still 
sitting, and on examination found that he was there 
fast chained! The fellow is inclined to run away, and 
this is the method which This Tyrant makes use of to 
keep him when abroad." 

Of Henry Corbin the patentee of Pecatone there are 
more amiable traditions. He was one of that never- 
to-be-forgotten quartette of bon-vivants — which in- 
cluded, besides himself, John Lee, Isaac Allerton, and 
Thomas Gerrard, a refugee from his manor of St. 
Clement's across the river — who entered into a con- 
tract in 1670, later duly recorded, to build them "a 
banqueting hall" at or near the head of Cherive's 
(now Jackson's) Creek where their estates cornered. 
It was agreed that each party to the contract should 
"yearly, according to his due course, make an honour- 
able treatment, fit to entertain the undertakers thereof, 
their men, masters and friends. . . . Every four 
years to have a procession to every man's land for 
re-marking and bounding by line-trees or other par- 
ticular divident or seat. . . . This for the better 
preservation of that friendship which ought to be be- 
tween neighbours, that each man's line, whenever any- 
one of us is bounded, one upon another, may be re- 
marked and plainly set forth by trees." ... It 




Wilton 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 117 

should be noted that though the re-marking of boun- 
daries was made the occasion for the agreement, that 
ceremonial occurred only once in four years, whereas 
the "honourable treatment" was an annual feast. 
The planters loved a good time and appear to have had 
it from the earliest days. 

Although the lands at Cole's Point, on the east side 
of the mouth of the Lower Machodoc, appear later to 
have belonged to the vast holdings of Councillor 
Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, the name given it by 
the patentee, Richard Cole, was Salisbury Park, pre- 
sumably after his ancestral home in the County of 
Hertford, England. Cole was a character. An item, 
preserved by the Virginia Historical Society, relates 
of him: "In 1665 he was brought before the Westmore- 
land Court on the charge that in the presence of several 
gentlemen he said that, 'Sir William Berkley durst not 
show his face in England,' that if the said Cole were in 
England he had better credit than 'His Honour,' that 
he was better born and better bred, that 'he expected 
his brother to come in Governor, who would kick his 
Honour from his place. And he should be a Councelor 
at least, and then would Act Knavery by Authority,' 
that 'he had formerly a better man (than Berkeley) 
for his pimpe, for a Knight of Malta was his pimpe' &c. 
His neighbours 'Hardwick and Hutt were rogues,' 
and Washington 'an ass — negroe-driver,' whom he 
would have up before the Governor and Council, 'as a 
companie of Caterpillar fellows,' who 'live upon my 
bills of export.' When Richard Cole died in 1674 
he directed that his body be buried upon his plantation 
in a neat coffin of black walnut, and over it a gravestone 



118 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

of black marble to be sent out from England 'with my 
Coate of Armour engraved in brasse and under it this 
Epitaph : 

Here lies Dick Cole a grievous Sinner 
That died a Little before Dinner 
Yet hopes in Heaven to find a place 
To Satiate his soul with Grace.' " 

An account by Fithian, in his diary, of a trip down 
the Machodoc to Councillor Carter's storehouses at 
Cole's Point and the return by way of the big river into 
Nomini Creek must be repeated in full as a happy 
introduction to the neighbourhood surrounding the 
latter inlet about which clustered so many famous 
mansions : 

"The Colonel, Ben & myself rode on Horse-back 
about Six to M'. Aticels; four lusty, hearty men had 
gone on foot before who were Oarsmen : Here we were 
to enter a Boat never rowed before, proceed down 
the River Machodock to M^ Carters Store-Houses 
which are now building near the mouth of that River — 
The Boat that carried us is built for the purpose of 
carrying the young Ladies and others of the Family 
to Nominy Church — It is a light neat Battoe elegantly 

painted & is rowed with four Oars We went on 

board; The sun beamed down upon us, but we each 

had an Umbrella The River is here about Gunshot 

over; the Banks are pretty low, but hard to the very 

Water 1 was delighted to see Corn & Tobacco 

growing, or Cattle & Sheep feeding along the Brink 
of this River on both Sides, or else Groves of Pines, 
Savins & Oaks growing to the side of the Bank We 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 119 

passed by an elegant small Seat of M'. Beat; it was 
small, but it was neat — We arrived at M^ Carters 
Store-Houses in 50 minutes, they are five Miles from 

M'. Atwelsy & one from Patowmack These Houses 

are building for the reception of Iron, Bread, Flour &c. 

there are two Houses each 46 Feet long by 20. They 

stand at the Bottom of a Bay which is a safe & spacious 

harbour Here we breakfasted at ten, At twelve 

we pushed of from thence & rowed by parson Smiths 
Glebe & in sight of his house in to the broad beautiful 

Potowmack 1 think it is here ten Miles or twelve 

over has a fine high hard Bank; no Marshes — but Corn- 
fields, Trees, or Grass ! Up the lovely Water we were 

rowed six Miles into the Mouth of Nominy We 

went on Board a small Schooner from Norfolk which 

lay on Nominy -Bay M^ Carter is loading her with 

Flour & Iron Here we were in sight of Stratford, 

Colonel Lee's Seat We were in sight too of Captain 

Cheltons And of Colonel Washington's Seat at 

Bushfield From the Schooner we rowed up Nominy- 

River 1 have forgot to remark that from the time 

of our setting out as we were going down Machodock, 
& along the Potowmack-Shore, & especially as we were 
rowing up Nominy we saw Fishermen in great numbers 
in Canoes, & almost constantly taking in Fish, Bass & 
Perch This was beautiful! The entrance of No- 
mini is very shoal, & stony, the Channel is very narrow, 

& lies close to the Eastermost Side On the edges 

of the shoals, or in Holes between the Rocks is plenty 

of Fish The Banks of Nominy are steep and almost 

perpendicular; The Course of the River is crooked, & 
the prospects on each Side vastly romantic & diversified 



120 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

We arrived at the Granary near Nominy-Hall 



about six — I went to my room to take off an Account 
of the expedition." 

Nomini Hall stood on the west bank of Nomini 
Creek about three miles from its union with Nomini 
Bay. It was one of the three famous Carter mansions 
on the Northern Neck. The other two were Corota- 
mon in Northumberland and Sabine Hall on the Rap- 
pahannock and only a few miles from Nomini Hall. 
Near by the latter was the beautiful Mount Airy of 
the Tayloes. With these and other famous old man- 
sions near by, Bushfield, Chantilly, Hickory Hill, Strat- 
ford, Nomini Hall, and others on the Potomac formed 
a comparatively small neighbourhood which developed 
colonial culture and social life to a high degree. In 
this group as a part of the old neighbourhood must be 
included the venerable Glebe house on Glebe Creek, 
Machodoc River, the residence of the Rector of Cople 
Parish. 

Near the eastern side of the mouth of Nomini Creek 
stood Bushfield, best known as the seat of John Augus- 
tine Washington, younger brother of George Washing- 
ton. '' His house," wrote Fithian after a Sunday dinner 
with the Carters, Parson Smith, Mr. Campbell the 
Comptroller, and others, "has the most agreeable 
Situation of any I have seen in Maryland or Virginia; 
the broad Potowmack, which they account between 
7 and 8 miles over, washes the gardens on the North, 
the River Nomini is within a stones throw on the West, 
a levil open Country on the East; a Lane of a mile 
and three quarters accurately measured, lies from the 
House South-East There are no Marshes 




Washington's Bihthplack 

Looking flown Pope's Oeek in Westmoreland County, X'irginia. Tlie point 
in the middle distance juts out from the waterside acres of Wakefield where in 
17U2 George Wasliinj^ton was horn. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 121 

near, which altogether make the place exceeding 
Description." 

Hickory Hill, another Turberville mansion, was 
within three quarters of a mile of Councillor Carter's. 
Only three miles north on the heights overlooking the 
Potomac, opposite Colonel Washington's Bushfield, 
was Chantilly, the seat of Richard Henry Lee, one of 
the greatest minds and tongues in the struggle for 
Independence; member of the Virginia House of Bur- 
gesses and of the first general Congress, President of 
the Congress, mover of a resolution for Independence 
in Congress on June 7, 1776, originator of the Com- 
mittee on Correspondence, Signer of the Declaration 
of Independence, member of the Congress w^hich 
adopted the Federal Constitution and under it one of 
the first two United States Senators from Virginia. 
Lee places are sprinkled all over Westmoreland. 
Richard, son of the Emigrant, was buried in the grounds 
of Mount Pleasant, a Lee place near the Potomac about 
four miles east of Nomini Creek. Adjoining this estate 
in the old days was Lee Hall, another mansion of this 
family which gave so many distinguished men to the 
service of the colonies and the young republic. The 
first of the family to reach America built and lived in 
Cobbs, forty miles south of Nomini in Northumber- 
land, overlooking Chesapeake Bay, and, near to Cobbs, 
Hancock Lee built and lived in another famous mansion, 
old Ditchley Hall. 

Still another and probably the most famous of all 
the Lee places on the Potomac is Stratford whose 
thousands of acres bordered the river just above 
Nomini Creek stretching back from Nomini Cliffs. 



122 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The patent to Stratford dates to the middle of the 
seventeenth century. The first considerable mansion 
on this estate is said by Lancaster to have been built 
by Thomas Lee early in the eighteenth century, and 
to have been destroyed by a fire shortly after in 1729, 
lighted by convict servants whom the master of Strat- 
ford, sitting as magistrate, had sentenced to punish- 
ment for some misdemeanor. The compiler of Lee of 
Virginia says that this fire more probably destroyed 
Mount Pleasant. In recognition of his fidelity to his 
office the English Government after the fire wherever 
it occurred voted Colonel Lee a reward of three hundred 
pounds. He almost immediately built the superb 
mansion which survives at Stratford. Here were born 
many of the distinguished public men enumerated be- 
low. The builder of Stratford was himself the presi- 
dent of the colonial council and acting governor of the 
colony in the absence of the royal appointee. He was 
the father of six sons, all born at Stratford, who were 
unmatched in public service and attainment by any 
other six brothers in American history: Philip Ludwell 
Lee was a member of the House of Burgesses and of 
the Colonial Council of which he was the secretary; 
Thomas Ludwell Lee was a member of the House of 
Burgesses, of the Conventions of 1775 and of the Com- 
mittee of Public Safety; Richard Henry Lee and Francis 
Lightfoot Lee crowned distinguished careers as Signers 
of the Declaration of Independence; William and Arthur 
Lee, the youngest sons, were in the diplomatic service 
of their country in Europe during the Revolution. 

The contribution of the Lee family to American 
public life is thus summarized by Lancaster: "To 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 123 

Virginia one governor, four members of the Council 
of State, and twelve members of the House of Burgesses; 
to the Colony of Maryland two Councillors and three 
members of the Assembly; to the American Revolution 
four members of the Convention of 1776 . . . two 
Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and their 
three other eminent brothers, Thomas Ludwell, William, 
and Arthur Lee; and the foremost cavalry oflScer of 
the Revolutionary War, 'Light-Horse Harry' Lee. To 
the Civil Service of the United States the family has 
furnished one attorney general and several members 
of Congress, and to the State of Virginia, two governors, 
to the State of Maryland, a governor, and to the Con- 
federate States, the great commander of its armies, 
three major generals, and one brigadier general. Later, 
during the troubles which culminated in the war with 
Spain, General Fitzhugh Lee gained added distinction 
as consul general to Cuba and as a major general of 
the United States Army." 

A few miles above Stratford behind a marshy en- 
trance are the pleasant waters of Pope's Creek named 
for one of the oldest families on the Potomac, but im- 
mortalized by the boy who was born on its banks. 
Up river from this creek a distance of about a mile and 
a half is Bridge's Creek. The land between the two 
creeks was settled by John Washington, the immigrant, 
after he came out from England in 1656. He was a 
member of the House of Burgesses, gave his name to 
his parish, and was a thrice-married man. The name 
of his first wife is not known. His second wife was the 
daughter of his neighbour Nathaniel Pope, and his third 
wife was the daughter of Thomas Gerrard of St. Clem- 



124 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

ent's Manor and the festive Westmoreland banqueting 
hall. The first Washington homestead is believed from 
evidence in the soil to have been built on Bridge's 
Creek. Here, too, is the Washington burj^ing ground, 
additional evidence of an early dwelling near by, for 
in olden times the family graves were made very near 
the homestead. WTien this house disappeared is not 
known, but the immigrant's grandson, Augustine, lived 
on the west side of Pope's Creek near its mouth in a 
strong simple frame house of a story and a half with a 
columned portico overlooking the water. Here to 
Augustine Washington and his wdfe Mary Ball was born 
on February 22 (N. S.), 1732, the son whom they called 
George. That house disappeared long since. The 
farm has for generations been known on the river as 
Wakefield, but it is not believed that George Washing- 
ton knew it by this name. 

As if this one event were not glory enough for the 
old river, not to mention a mere county, James Monroe, 
later President of the United States, was born on the 
shore of a bay given his name just north of Maddox 
Creek; the home of Thomas Marshall, father of the 
first Chief Justice of the United States, was just back 
from the river; and James Madison, another President, 
was born a few miles to the west; all in Westmoreland. 

Not far inland in this same part of the same county 
are three places which belonged at times to a clergy- 
man and educator named Archibald Campbell, uncle of 
the British poet Thomas Campbell. These places are 
Pomona; Kirnan, formerly China Hall, and Campbell- 
ton. It was at the last-named house that Mr. Campbell 
kept a ^hool famous in the days of Washington's 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 125 

youth. Bishop Meade tries, somewhat arduously, to 
estabhsh that James Monroe, James Madison, Thomas 
Marshall, and George Washington all went to this 
school. 

The shore for a little way above this neighbourhood, 
as if exhausted by its effort at history making, lapses 
into a stretch of commonplace and does not challenge 
attention again until the river has swept around 
Mathias Point. From Hosier's Creek, below Mathias, 
over a course as far to the west as Potomac Creek, it 
washes the shore of King George County for thirty 
miles. This shore and its continuation some distance 
beyond to the north has been given, by Virginian tradi- 
tion, the neighbourhood name of Chotank. It may 
have taken this name from a little inlet about two miles 
long which ebbs and flows through a marsh about three 
miles southwest of Mathias Point. In its more elastic 
sense Chotank neighbourhood reached as far north 
as Occoquon Creek. 

The great family of Chotank was that of Fitzhugh 
and their places crowned the hills along the river and 
inland as far as the Rappahannock. The Fitzhugh 
immigrant was William, who was born in the town of 
Bedford, England, came to the Potomac in 1670 when 
thirteen years old, acquired vast tracts of land on the 
river, and on the hills overlooking the waters at Cho- 
tank Creek built his residence and named it Bedford for 
his English birthplace. He was a lawyer of prominence 
and an extensive planter, merchant, and shipper. His 
numerous letters disclose a strong character and inci- 
dentally reveal an insatiable passion for silver plate 
which he ordered from England on all occasions. He 



126 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

married Sarali Tucker of Westmoreland when he was 
twenty-three and she was only eleven years old, and 
sent her to England to be educated. His five sons 
inherited his vast estates referred to in a previous chap- 
ter and on their own lands built some of the finest 
mansions of colonial times. All were on or near the 
Potomac and belonged to the river neighbourhood. 
Among them may be noted Eagle's Nest opposite 
Maryland Point; Boscobel, just back of Potomac Creek; 
Marmion, near by; Chatham, on the Rappahannock 
opposite Fredericksburg; Belle Air "of Stafford," 
and Ravensworth in Fairfax. 

Henry Fitzhugh of Chatham was all but ruined 
by the drains of hospitality, connected as he was to so 
many prominent families and known to all of them, as 
they stopped to visit him on their way up and down 
the main highway through Fredericksburg. In self- 
defence he fled from his splendid mansion and built 
Ravensworth '*in the forest" in the centre of Fairfax, 
inland and away from waterways and roads. 

William Fitzhugh of Eagle's Nest was one of the 
Potomac boys who fought under Admiral Vernon at 
Carthagena. He is the centre of one of the most in- 
teresting traditions of the Rousby family, of Rousby 
Hall on the Patuxent, which tells how he won the hand 
of a widow Rousby. Thomas in his careful study of 
Colonial Maryland reports: 

"Mrs. Rousby noted alike for her beauty, dignity, 
position and wealth, became a widow at the age of 
twenty, her only child being then an infant. Among 
her suitors was Colonel William Fitzhugh of Virginia. 
His position and fortune were good, but the fair widow 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 127 

of Rousby was inflexible. Col. Fitzhugh, however 
. . . was not to be subdued and continued to press 
his suit. On one occasion having paid a visit to Mrs. 
Rousby, and on leaving the house to take his boat, 
the nurse appeared, bearing in her arms the infant 
heiress of Rousby Hall. Snatching the child from the 
nurse's arms, and unheeding the cries of the baby, 
the desperate soldier-lover sprang into his boat and 
ordered his men to push from the shore. When some 
distance out in the Patuxent, he held the child over the 
water, threatening to drown it if its mother did not 
relent and agree to become his wife. The mother half 
frantic, stood upon the river bank while her mad lover 
held her innocent child between sky and water. Believ- 
ing that the threat would be executed she yielded and 
sealed her fate, by becoming shortly afterwards Mrs. 
Col. William Fitzhugh, and the baby that was not 
drowned became the wife of Gov. George Plater." 

After the Fitzhugh immigrant built Bedford on 
Chotank scions of other colonial families followed 
into the same neighbourhood, and a list of these places 
include Hilton and Waterloo, both Washington homes; 
Richard Stuart's Cedar Grove just west of the creek; 
and Caledon of the Alexanders, one of the first grants 
on the river. Farther along the shore, nearer Eagle's 
Nest, rose Chatterton, seat of Colonel Peter Ashton, 
dating from about 1667, though later it became the 
home of a branch of the Tayloe family. 

Potomac Creek on the elbow of the next turn in the 
river may be recalled as the home of the first resident 
white man on the river, Henry Spelman, who lived here 
with his friend the King of the Patawomecks. In 



us POTOMAC LANDINGS 

common with other creeks its lands were patented 
early and it became the centre of a populous neighbour- 
hood. In the eighteenth century its hills were dotted 
with the homes of sons of families whose names are 
doubtless entirely familiar. On the north lip of 
Potomac Creek's mouth was Marlboro, the estate and 
mansion of the Mercers, a distinguished family of 
whom John Mercer of Marlboro compiled "Mercer's 
Abridgment of the Virginia Laws." Here once stood the 
Court House of Stafford County. Adjoining Marlboro 
was the seat of Rawleigh Travers, brother-in-law of 
the mother of Washington. Near by were Crow's 
Nest, named for Travers Daniel's fleet ship, The Crow; 
Carter's Park, which was a fraction of the three thou- 
sand acres which "King" Carter, "being of sound mind 
but in a crazy disordered condition respecting my 
health," willed his son George in 1730; and Berry Hill, 
a Lee place, home of Thomas Ludlow Lee, one of the 
six distinguished sons of the builder of Stratford Hall. 
In the hills south of this creek rose Boscobel, Belle Air, 
the Seldens' Salvington, and the Waughs' Belle Plaine, 
all within a space of some eight or ten miles square. 

Brent's Point at the mouth of Aquia Creek next 
above is at once suggestive of the Brents who were so 
conspicuous in the first years at St. Mary's. These 
stormy spirits found it expedient eventually to leave 
Maryland and they sought asylum on the Virginia 
shore in 1650. Mistress Margaret died on her estate, 
perhaps significantly called Peace, and Giles Brent 
later died on his estate with similar significance called 
Retirement. Augustin Herman's map of Virginia and 
Maryland, 1670, spreads the name "Brent" over the 




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POTOMAC LANDINGS 129 

entire peninsula between the river and Aquia Creek. 
Wherever the first dwelHng may have been it is certain 
that not long after this Giles passed away his descen- 
dants had built their mansion on a tract of one thousand 
acres, called Richlands, a few miles above Aquia Creek 
and fronting immediately on the river. The first house 
was burned by the British Fleet, under Lord Dunmore, 
during the Revolution, but there has ever since been 
another house on the same site. There is a tradition 
that Martin Van Buren came in great style to Rich- 
lands in his coach behind four white horses and liveried 
footmen to pay court to its mistress, a member of the 
Fitzhugh family, but that the unsympathetic lady 
declined his hand. Woodstock, at the head of Aquia, 
was built by George Brent, a nephew of Margaret and 
Giles. He was the land agent of Lord Fairfax and Lady 
Culpepper, and his second wife was the daughter of 
Lady Baltimore. The descendants of the Brents of 
both Richlands and Woodstock were much in public 
life from the days of the immigrants and became con- 
nected by marriage with the Carrolls, Sweeneys, Cal- 
verts, Johnsons, Walshs, Moshers, Youngs, Forests, 
Digges, Neales, and others of Maryland; with the Ma- 
sons, Lees, Grahams, Fitzhughs, and others of Virginia; 
and with the Livingstons and Backuses of New York. 
This item, interesting to the story of this part of 
the Virginia shore of the Potomac, occurs in the will 
of Henry Lee of Lee Hall, 1747: *'I give and bequeath 
to my son Henry and to his heirs forever, all my plan- 
tations and land in Prince WilHam County, which I 
have at Free Stone Point and at Neapsco and Powells 
Creeks, which was granted by patent to Gervas Dodson 



130 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

for two thousand acres, and by my grandfather, Henry 
Corbin Gent, given to his Daughter Lettice who was my 
mother and afterwards descended to my brother Rich- 
ard Lee as Heir at Law to her and by my said brother 
given to me." 

On the heights, behind Freestone Point referred to 
above, rose the mansion of Leesylvania, and from that 
situation spreads one of the most comprehensive views 
on the Potomac. To the south the river blends with 
the sky miles before the hills about Aquia and Potomac 
creeks rise above the horizon. To the north open the 
broad waters of Occoquon and Belmont bays and north- 
eastward the reach of the river is uninterrupted by 
the Maryland hills over a distance of nearly ten miles. 
Perhaps the most notable personage associated with 
this mansion was Henry Lee, who was born here in 
1756. This Henry Lee was graduated from Princeton 
in 1773, became the dashing "Light-Horse Harry" Lee 
of the Revolution, and his son, Robert E. Lee, was the 
commander-in-chief of the armies of the Confederacy 
and their idol. Henry Lee was a great favourite with 
General Washington. No doubt his personal char- 
acter and his efficiency as an officer sufficiently account 
for this, but it is interesting to view this favour of the 
Commander-in-Chief in the light of the fact that young 
Lee was the son of Lucy Grymes, "the lowland beauty" 
of Washington's early love affairs. 

General Henry Lee was, after the war, governor of 
Virginia and a member of Congress. While he was in 
Congress news came of the death of General Washing- 
ton and he was the author of the House resolutions on 
that event in which he wrote the memorable words 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 131 

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of 
his fellow citizens." 

A few miles from Leesylvania, screened from the 
river by billowing hills, in the neighbourhood of 
Neabsco Creek, stands a mansion which was a part of 
colonial river life as surely as if it had stood directly 
on the shore. It is Belle Air, home at first of the 
Graysons and then of the Ewells, and finally the last 
resting place of the erratic and indefatigable Parson 
Weems (Mason Locke Weems) inventor of the classic 
cherry-tree story and of the youthful George Washing- 
ton's reputed "Father, I cannot tell a lie, I cut it with 
my hatchet." Weems during a long life was a nomadic 
preacher and book-agent along both sides of the river. 
He even carried a fiddle and when a tune was needed 
to inspire a dance, he supplied the deficiency. 

One still hears repeated on the river this anecdote 
of the Parson which was first told by Bishop Meade: 
"On an election or court day at Fairfax Court House, 
I once found Mr. Weems, with a book-easeful [of 
books] for sale, in the portico of the tavern. On look- 
ing at them I saw Paine's 'Age of Reason', and, taking 
it into my hand, turned to him, asking if it were possi- 
ble that he could sell such a book. He immediately 
took out the Bishop of Llandaff's answer, and said, 
'Behold the antidote. The bane and the antidote are 
both before you'." His "Life of Washington," which is 
estimated to have reached as high as seventy editions, 
was not his only literary production. In addition to 
many pamphlets he wrote short "popular" lives of 
General Francis Marion, Benjamin Franklin, and 
William Penn. 



132 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Beyond Occoquon Bay to the east is a vast tract 
known as Mason's Neck, and on the highlands, looking 
out upon the river near the mouth of Gunston Cove, 
though somewhat screened to-day by the hedges and 
trees, is Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason, 
intimate friend and advisor of Washington and Jeffer- 
son; author of the Fairfax Resolves, the Virginia Bill 
of Rights, and the Constitution of the state of Virginia. 
He died possessed of vast land holdings on upper tide- 
water Potomac and his sons and other connections had 
numerous fine mansions on this part of the river. He 
established one of his sons on an estate called Wood- 
bridge at the mouth of Occoquon Creek; for another he 
built Lexington which had a magnificent outlook down 
river from a point near Gunston Hall; another son 
lived a few miles above Mount Vernon at Hollin Hall; 
and Analostin Island, in the Potomac opposite the 
mouth of Rock Creek, was for many years the site of 
the home of another of the sons of George Mason of 
Gunston Hall. This island was first known as My 
Lord's Island and then as Mason's Island, though the 
mansion was called Barbadoes. It eventually was the 
home of George Mason's grandson. Senator James 
Murray Mason, author of the "Fugitive Slave Law." 
The house is a ruin and the island is a wilderness. Re- 
turning to Mason's Neck, one finds on the ridge running 
through its centre and just beyond the gates of Gunston 
Hall and Lexington an estate called Springfield. Here 
lived, in the eighteenth century, Martin Cockburn, an 
Englishman who had married a Virginian, and achieved 
a none-too-enviable notoriety as the uncle of the British 
Admiral Cockburn who pillaged the Potomac. 




o 

H 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 133 

The bold promontory between Gunston Cove and 
Dogue Creek is the principal spot on the river identified 
in a domestic sense with the family of Fairfaxes who 
at one time held by royal patent the whole of the 
Northern Neck. This peninsula was known as Bel voir 
and was a Fairfax residence from its earliest days until 
the mansion was destroyed by fire in 1783. The house 
stood near the edge of the bluff at its highest point 
and commanded superb water views as far east as the 
Digges' Warburton Manor and as far south as the hills 
above Pomunky Creek in Maryland. Belvoir was 
intimately identified with the boyhood of George 
Washington. Here he met Lord Thomas Fairfax 
from whom he learned surveying and for whom he 
surveyed his vast holdings in the valley to the north- 
west where His Lordship built Greenaway Court and 
spent his last days. The last of the Fairfaxes at 
Belvoir was Colonel George William Fairfax, a royalist 
who returned to England when the colonies revolted. 
His younger half-brother, Bryan, remained, however, 
and was unmolested in Mount Eagle, his home on the 
south side of Great Hunting Creek overlooking Alex- 
andria and in sight of Oxon Hill across in Maryland. 
Washington visited Mount Eagle frequently and in 
this house he took with his friend Bryan Fairfax and 
his family the last meal which he ate away from his 
own home. 

Only two miles above Belvoir rose the mansion which 
of all, not only on the Potomac but in all America, is 
best known and is most hallowed to Americans, Mount 
Vernon, the home and last resting place of George 
Washington. The Washington immigrant settled, as 



134 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

noted, farther down river in Westmoreland, and there 
many of the family had estates. His grandson, Augus- 
tine Washington, and his second wife, Mary Ball, took 
their little family to their tract in upper tidewater, 
next their friends the Fairfaxes, in 1735. After his 
son Lawrence returned from the West Indian campaigns 
under Admiral Vernon, in which he served with the 
other Potomac young men, and had married Anne 
Fairfax of Belvoir, he gave this tract to Lawrence, 
who named his new home Mount Vernon after his 
admired commander. George came here frequently as 
a boy and eventually became its owner as heir to his 
half-brother Lawrence. The story of this home is a 
history apart.* 

Washington's secretary and the historian of his last 
hours was Tobias Lear and to him the General be- 
queathed the house and farm called Wellington on the 
northeast corner of his estate, and the dwelling, though 
altered, still stands on a high point in the shore half way 
between Mount Vernon and Alexandria. 

With Mount Vernon, through George Washington's 
wife, Martha Custis Washington, and her children, are 
linked the remaining places which distinguished this 
side of the river. When Mrs. Washington came to 
Mount Vernon she brought with her the son and daugh- 
ter of her union with Daniel Parke Custis, the girl 
died before maturity, but the boy, John Parke Custis, 
lived, it will be remembered, to marry Eleanor Calvert 
of Mount Airy, across in Maryland beyond the head 
of Piscataway Creek, and to become the father of four 

*"Mount Vernon, Washington's Home and the Nation's Shrine," by Paul Wilstach. 
Doubleday, Page & Co., 1916. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 135 

children. Jack Custis was heir to a large fortune and 
he bought large tracts on the Virginia shore above 
Alexandria. He brought his bride to Abingdon, a 
relatively small but attractive formal frame dwelling 
on the river bank just opposite the entrance to Ana- 
costia River, which survives to-day. The children born 
at Abingdon were Elizabeth Parke Custis, later Mrs. 
Law; Martha Parke Custis, later Mrs. Thomas Peter; 
Eleanor Parke Custis, later Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, and 
familiarly known as *' Nelly" Custis; and George Wash- 
ington Parke Custis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Peter built Tudor Place on 
one of the highest points of near-by Georgetown. Mr. 
and Mrs. Lewis built Woodlawn Mansion on 2,500 
acres of land from the western side of Mount Vernon on 
the high ground at the head of Dogue Creek bequeathed 
to Colonel Lewis by his uncle, General Washington. 
George Washington Parke Custis built Arlington on 
the Virginia hills overlooking the then newly planned 
Federal Capital. These three houses survive, and each 
is a superb specimen of its own type of architecture, 
exquisite pendants to venerable Mount Vernon and 
worthy ornaments of the head of tidewater Potomac. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Towns on Tidewater — Paper Towns — The Provincial Capital at 
St. Mary's, Its Rise and Fall — Kinsale, Leonardtown, Port 
Tobacco, Dumfries, Colchester, and Occoquon — Piscataway 
and the Annapolis Players — Historic Alexandria — George- 
town at the Head of Navigation. 

THE plantations, as will be seen, were communi- 
ties sufficient each unto itself. Such was the 
depth of water and the continual series of natu- 
ral harbours for sailing vessels in the creeks through- 
out tidewater Potomac, that the ships as a rule came 
to the planter's own landing and he had no need for 
ports. The river valley from the first remained the 
home of agriculture and fishing, to the exclusion of 
manufacturing, which would have stimulated town 
building. Except at the head of tidewater, where 
later the vessels put off their consignments for settle- 
ments in the hill country beyond their reach, only a 
few towns survive. This is not because the effort and, 
in at least the case of St. Mary's, the cause were want- 
ing. 

The old records and papers are full of references to 
"towns." Most of these were ''paper towns," or per- 
haps a landing head with a tobacco warehouse and a 
store, for it has been said, "the settlers call town any 
place where as many houses are as individuals required 
to make a riot; that is twenty." 

St. Mary's City was the pioneer in town life on the 

136 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 137 

Potomac as it was in colonization. But its example 
and its results in town making were not so effective 
nor so permanent as in colony making. To-day the 
landing at St. Mary's heads on a quiet shore almost as 
innocent of habitation as on the first spring day when 
Captain Henry Fleete led Governor Calvert and his 
pilgrims up to its beautiful green sweeps. 

Yet here for over half a century stood the capital 
and only town of the whole province of Maryland. 
Hither, to attend court and to sit in the Assembly, 
and to adjust their taxes and other county business, 
the settlers came sailing down the Potomac from as far 
as Anacostin Indian Town opposite the site of the pres- 
ent national capital and down the Chesapeake from 
distant Kent Island and the mouth of the even more 
distant Susquehannah. Here Governor Calvert and 
his kinsman, Lord Baltimore, held a court and a control 
with princely powers over a territory equalling a prin- 
cipality. It is a unique instance in all American history 
of a colonial capital which has perished and left no 
trace of itself above the fields to which time has levelled 
it. 

For thirty years after the arrival of the pilgrims St. 
Mary's made little real civic progress. It was Charles 
Calvert, later Lord Baltimore, who raised the little 
capital to its highest distinction. In 1668 it was in- 
corporated into a "city" with municipal officials and 
the privilege of holding a weekly market and an 
annual fair. Thomas enumerates the civic improve- 
ments of St. Mary's at its highest stage of development 
as the "fort, or palisado, which though a rude structure 
compared with those of more modern date, was solidly 



138 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

built and well enough mounted to protect the inhabit- 
ants against the warfare of that day; its massive and 
dignified State House, with its thick walls, tile roof, 
and paved floors; its stout jail, with its iron-barred 
windows; its market-house, warehouses, and several 
ordinaries; its unique brick chapel, the victim of the 
persecution of the Roman Catholics of later times; 
its quaint Protestant church; its pretentious and 
fortress-like executive mansion; which, with its offices, 
private houses, and shops — of varied architectural 
design — numbering, it is said, about sixty, and scattered 
over the elevated but level plain, studded as we are 
told, with primeval forest trees, constituted the pic- 
turesque little metropolis of early Maryland." 

At the west end of Middle Street, on the point where 
Horseshoe Bend begins, stood the Great Mulberry Tree 
which saw the rise of the capital as well as its decline 
and obliteration, and became, in the isolation of its 
endurance, a traditional landmark in Maryland akin 
to Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. It survived 
until 1876 when some of its wood was worked into the 
decorations of near-by Trinity Episcopal Church, and 
smaller cuttings went, the way of General Washington's 
coach, into canes, gavels, and other souvenirs. It is 
said that relic hunters found crude nails embedded 
deep in the wood of the old mulberry, used, no doubt, 
in the early days to post Calvert's proclamations and 
other public notices for the enquiring gaze of the 
colonists. Almost within the shade of the historic 
tree stood the jail on the east in "Callow's Green" 
and the state house on the south. The fort was still 
farther south where Key's Branch joins the St. Mary's. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 139 

The heart of the capital lay between this branch and 
St. John's Creek on the other side of Middle Street 
with its taverns, chapel, coffee house, and homes of the 
various dignitaries. Charles, Lord Baltimore, when 
governor, lived in the Palace of St. John which over- 
looked the St. Mary's from the north side of St. John's 
Creek. South of Middle Street was the town house 
of Leonard Calvert and then, along the St. Mary's 
in succession, beyond the Branch, "the White House" 
of Treasurer Giles Brent, "Sisters Freehold" of Mar- 
garet and Mary Brent, "Greene's Rest" of Governor 
Thomas Greene, the home of Chancellor Philip Calvert 
on Chancellor's Point, and the home of Daniel Wolsten- 
holme. Royal Collector, at the junction of St. Mary's 
with St. Inigoes. The Collector's house survived in 
part as beautiful Rose Croft which burned away only 
a few years ago. It may be identified by the curious 
reader as "the Collector's House" in Kennedy's ro- 
mance of early Maryland, "Rob of the Bowl." 

All the while the little city was building, however, 
there were forging the weapons which were soon to 
strike it to the heart. Unwisely Calvert had placed 
his capital at the uttermost end of the province. With 
every shipload of immigrants the centre of population 
ebbed farther away. Moreover, the unqualifiedly 
Catholic character of the capital city alienated it from 
the Protestant settlers farther north and across the 
Bay on the Eastern Shore. 

There were two temporary removals of the capital 
before the final stroke. When the Puritan Common- 
wealth came into powder in England its colonial partisans 
in 1654 seized the documents and records at St. Mary's 



140 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and moved them to Mr. Preston's house on the Patux- 
ent River. The city's ancient rights were restored, 
however, in 1659. A cahn of twenty years succeeded. 
Then, in obedience to popular clamour for a capital 
nearer the centre of the province, the courts and 
offices were removed to "The Ridge" in Anne Arundel 
County. One session of the Assembly was held here 
when the peripatetic capital, after a three-days' session 
at Battle Creek on Patuxent, returned to its original 
home on the Potomac. When William of Orange 
mounted the English throne in 1689 and Protestantism 
again became the established religion, the Catholic 
capital was doomed. The renewed proposal to wrest 
the capital from St. Mary's provoked a bitter contro- 
versy, but in the end the northern party won and ever 
since then the Maryland Assembly has sat at An- 
napolis on the Severn. 

Bereft of all that gave it life St. Mary's City suc- 
cumbed to the inevitable and peacefully passed away. 
All of it that is known to survive are the scattered 
fragments of the old Mulberry Tree, the bricks from 
the Catholic Church said to have been used in building 
the Manor of St. Inigoes a few miles away, and at 
Georgetown University, the council table, and the bell 
which in 1681 was hung in the State House the more 
economically to convene the Assembly and Court which 
formerly had gathered at the drummer's roll. 

All but a few other towns on the Potomac refused to 
blossom. Community life kept to the private basis of 
the plantation. The situation pleased the planter. He 
was practically a feudal lord. Besides his family, he 
controlled his white indentured servants as completely 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 141 

as his black slaves who were his personal property. 
Yet, when towns refused to sprout spontaneously 
these same planters in Assembly struck the soil with 
the wand of legislation and ordered towns to spring 
forth. 

Virginia led the way in legislating towns. In 1679 
the Burgesses ordered that each county should purchase 
fifty acres of land. The price allowed was ten thou- 
sand pounds of tobacco and cask. It was directed 
that all goods for exportation should be brought to the 
towns and all servants, chattels, and other importations 
should be landed at the towns. Certain curious im- 
munities were offered prospective residents, among 
them was that by which tradesmen and mechanics 
who took up permanent residence in the towns were 
to be free from arrest or seizure of their estates for debts 
contracted previously elsewhere. William Fitzhugh 
wrote optimistically to "Capt. Fras. Partis, near East 
Smithfield, London": "We are also going to make 
towns, if you can meet with any tradesmen that will 
come in and live at the Town they may have large 
privileges and immunitys." 

Thus spurred, Maryland, as time ambled in those 
days, quickly followed Virginia's suit. Let there be 
towns, declared the Assembly at St. Mary's four years 
later, in 1683. "They shall be ports and places where 
all ships and vessels, trading in this province," declared 
the act as finally passed, "shall unlade and put on 
shore, and sell, barter and traflBc away." 

The three town sites selected on the Virginia shore 
were, in the original terms: "In Northumberland 
County, Chicacony," now Coan River Landing; "In 



142 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Westmoreland County at Nominie on the land of Mr. 
Hardwicke"; and "In Stafford County at Pease Point 
at the mouth of Aquia on the north side." Maryland 
ordered just double that number in 1683. The sites 
selected were: "The City of St. Maries, Brittons Bay, 
Between the Mouth of Chaptico Bay and Westwood 
house. In Wiccocomoco River in or near Hattons Point, 
in Port Tobacco Creek near the Mouth, and At Chingo 
Muxen." The following year she added: "And at the 
mouth of Nanjemoy Creek att or neare Lewisses Neck." 
But of the making of paper towns on this side there 
seems to have been no end for at least three others were 
added in 1686 and two more two years later. Scraps 
of paper all, torn up by time. There are places at 
which, said Thomas Jefferson, "the laivs have said there 
shall be towns; but Nature has said there shall not." 

Virginia's legislation touching the river seems to 
have been an example to Maryland in other things be- 
sides ordering towns. For when the southern colony 
established ports in 1691 for the collection of all import 
and export duties, the northern colony followed suit 
in 1706. Again when Virginia established eight public 
warehouses for the inspection of tobacco on her 
shore in 1730, Maryland was spurred to order half a 
dozen similar warehouses on her side of the river. 
Those on the Maryland side were brick. This creeps 
out of the records. Perhaps the old Virginia tobacco 
warehouses were of brick also. There are no apparent 
remains to contradict a theory. 

Among the legislated towns only a few seem to have 
had more than a paper existence. Kingsale then, 
Kinsale now, on the West Yeocomico, though never 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 143 

more than a village, brisk at boat-time, served as a 
public landing for a settled inland neighbourhood. 
Leonardtown, at the head of Bretton Bay, fell heir to 
the court house of St. Mary's and survives as the 
leading trading point of southern Maryland. 

Port Tobacco once rivalled St. Mary's. It enjoyed 
a fine harbour, a protected position surrounded by 
prosperous plantations, and was on one of the most 
favoured colonial routes between the North and the 
South. Weld wrote of it, in the beginning of its decline 
in 1795: "Port Tobacco contains about eighty houses, 
most of which are of wood and very poor. There is a 
large Episcopalian church on the border of the town, 
built of stone, which formerly was an ornament to 
the place; the windows are all broken, and the road is 
carried through the church -yard, over the graves, the 
palings which surround it having been torn down." 
Nearly all the eighty houses have long since gone the 
way of those at old St. Mary's, but the few remaining, 
with their mossy brick and sagging roofs and crazy 
chimneys, compose a unique and very quaint specimen 
of a derelict colonial town. 

The thrifty Scots who sailed up the river and came 
to anchor in Quantico Creek discovered near its mouth 
a beautiful meadow and there founded a substantial 
town which they named Dumfries. Evidences remain 
of the handsome stone-trimmed brick buildings which 
ornamented the place. It was for a while the centre of 
a considerable trade. These same Scots divided and 
some of their number settled on the Maryland shore 
farther up river. They left their mark in the name of 
one of the early (1696) political divisions, New Scotland 



144 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Hundred, which included within its limits the present 
territory of the District of Columbia. 

Before Parson Weems went to Belle Air to live he 
made his home at Dumfries. Here he had his book 
shop and his base of supplies whence he travelled up 
and down both sides of the river preaching, fiddling, 
and peddling. A more dignified figure was that of 
William Grayson who practised law in Dumfries after 
he returned from across seas from his studies at Oxford. 
He was one of Washington's most active supporters 
before and during the Revolution though he sided 
with George Mason in opposing the Constitution as 
adopted. However, when the nation was duly con- 
stituted, Virginia chose Grayson as one of her first 
two United States Senators. The other earliest Sena- 
tor from Virginia was, as already noted, another 
Potomac man, Richard Henry Lee of Chantilly. 

At the head of Occoquon Bay, where it meets the 
creek of the same name, at the waterside once stood the 
little tow^n of Colchester whose reason for being was the 
ferry at that point which united the roadways north 
and south on the Virginia shore. Later an arched stone 
bridge supplanted the ferry, itself in turn to crumble 
and disappear. But in its heyday Colchester was a 
lively junction point for travellers who sampled its 
tavern's delicacies while the stable boys shifted the 
horses. "On this side the bridge stands a tavern," 
wrote rhapsodic Davis in 1801, "where every luxury 
that money can purchase is to be obtained at a first 
summons." 

The same Davis spent some months a few miles 
up the creek where stood, and still stands, the village 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 145 

of Occoquon. He doesn't mince matters in the descrip- 
tion: "No place can be more romantic than the view 
of Occoquon to a stranger, after crossing the rustic 
bridge, which has been constructed by the inhabitants 
across the stream. He contemplates the river urging 
its course between mountains that lose themselves 
among the clouds; he beholds vessels taking on board 
flour under the foam of the mills, and others deeply 
laden expanding their sails to the breeze; while every 
face wears contentment, every gale wafts health, and 
echo from the rock multiplies the voices of the wag- 
goners calling to their teams." It would seem after 
this as if nothing more remains to be said of this town. 
However, attention should be called to the fact that 
the "mountains that lose themselves among the clouds" 
are nowhere above two hundred feet high, and Davis 
himself naively admits elsewhere that, in addition to 
two mills, "Occoquon consists of only a house built on 
a rock, three others on the riverside, and a half a dozen 
log huts scattered at some distance." 

Piscataway Town, which took its name from the 
creek of that name, has at least one distinction. As 
already noted it was here, and one wonders where in a 
little colonial river village, the troupe of actors from the 
theatre in Annapolis presented one of the plays of their 
classic repertoire in 1752. This appears to have been 
the first theatrical performance ever given on the 
Potomac. It is possible that among the audience 
gathered for so distinguished an event were seen the 
Hansons and Addisons and Digges from near-by manors, 
perhaps entertaining their Virginia neighbours, George 
Mason and his lady of Gunston Hall and a certain 



146 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

eligible young man of twenty years, recently heir to 
his brother's Mount Vernon. 

The two river towns which evolved from natural 
causes, and hence grew to importance and survived, 
were Alexandria on the west bank and Georgetown on 
the east bank, and only about seven miles apart. They 
took root near the head of tidewater Potomac where 
focussed the journey's end of most of the ships with 
cargoes for inland settlements to the north and west. 

Among the public warehouses ordered in 1730 was 
one to stand at "Great Hunting Creek, on Broad- 
water's land." Here, or at least near by, grew a settle- 
ment at first called Belhaven, later the city of Alex- 
andria. Its old streets and houses are rich in history. 
Especial interest attaches to the fine mansion which 
Colonel John Carlyle built near the shore on a high 
terraced foundation, in 1752. Three years later in 
this house five royal colonial governors met General 
Braddock, who had recently arrived to take command 
of the British forces in America, and evolved plans 
for the campaigns against the French and Indians on 
the west. Out of this meeting grew, it is said, the 
British determination to tax the colonies, which taxa- 
tion in turn fermented the Revolution. It was from 
Alexandria that Braddock made his start on his fatal 
campaign beyond the mountains on this occasion. 
He gave George Washington a commission as aide-de- 
camp on his staff in Colonel Carlyle's house. Braddock 
took Washington with him, but he did not take his 
advice, and acknowledged his mistake as the breath 
left his body. When Washington returned and mar- 
ried and settled at Mount Vernon as a planter he made 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 147 

Alexandria his market town, driving up there occasion- 
ally to worship at Christ Church, more regularly after 
the Revolution, to vote, and to attend the balls and 
routs, among them the first public celebration of his 
birthday. Here again in the Carlyle house an even- 
tually significant conference was held in 1785, attended 
by General Washington and the Governors of Virginia 
and Maryland, to settle certain disputes between the 
two commonwealths. This meeting adjourned to 
Mount Vernon and from it sprang the call for a meeting 
of delegates from all the commonwealths in 1787. 
This convention met in Philadelphia and framed the 
Constitution of the United States. In Alexandria, in 
comparatively early days, was built the first permanent 
theatre on the river, not reputed to have been a hand- 
some structure, and the resident companies at Annapolis 
came to Alexandria in the eighteenth century to repeat 
their plays. It became the metropolis of the northern 
end of tidewater Virginia. 

Georgetown rose apparently on the site of the 
Indian town of Tohogae, visited by Captain Fleet in 
1632. Its position at the head of tidewater, below but 
near the falls, was a natural position for a shipping 
point in the days of almost exclusive water transporta- 
tion. Similar natural conditions established and main- 
tained Richmond at the head of tidewater on the James, 
Fredericksburg at the head of tidewater on the Rappa- 
hannock, and Baltimore at the head of tidewater on 
the Patapsco. 

There was a ship's landing at Georgetown at least as 
early as 1703. Then and thereafter estates were fast 
developed back on the hills to the north, as well as 



148 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

south and east over the site of the future national 
capital. Georgetown was incorporated in 1751; and 
immediately became an important little metropolis. 
It was the main stopping place between Fredericksburg 
and Baltimore Town on the colonial highway from South 
to North. A continual round of celebrities were enter- 
tained in the coffee rooms and tap rooms of the ordi- 
naries whose courtyards resounded with the pleasant 
excitement of shifting coach horses and exchanging 
coachmen and passengers. When the Federal Capital 
first came to the Potomac, it, too,was for a time largely 
a paper town, and the foreign ministers established 
their legations in the mansions on the heights of 
Georgetown. Its union with Washington City has 
destroyed neither its individuality nor its charm. 

The rise and development of the Capital City at 
the head of tidewater Potomac is living history, the 
topic of a considerable literature, another story apart 
from this brief chronicle of the river. 

With this glance at the location and at the fate of 
these towns on the river the survey of the general 
development of life along the Potomac is completed. 
The native Indian has been seen to give way to the 
explorers, and the explorers to the planters. In the 
planter group are the dominating and determining 
figures in the story of life along the shores. Established 
in their seats above their landings, be they manor 
houses of Maryland or mansions of Virginia; with an 
ordered civil life developed; with parishes laid off and 
churches built; interest may now attach to more inti- 
mate features of the planter's daily existence, the do- 
mestic and social life of his home and neighbourhood. 






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CHAPTER IX 

Architecture and Building — First Dwellings — Chimneys — Nails 
as Heirlooms — Introduction of Glass into Colonial America 
— Types of Houses — Symmetrically Related Outbuildings — 
Porticoes — "Bricks from England" Fable — Brick Bonds 
—Oyster Shell Mortar— Roofs— Hedges, Gardens, and River 
Walks. 

AVAST domain may be acquired with the stroke 
of a pen. In this fashion, with the point of a 
quill plucked from the wing of a goose, were 
created the private domains on the Potomac. In 
many cases land possession was given without other 
consideration than royal or proprietary favour. It 
was secured often by "manual service" or "meritorious 
service" to the colony. The mere introduction of 
immigrants on either side of the river was adequate 
consideration for the acquirement of land in units of 
one hundred acres per immigrant under what were 
known as "head rights." 

Powerful as the pen is to create ownership of the 
land, it is, however, comparatively impotent to bring 
the land up to the finished state of production, and to 
place thereon all the adornments of a civilization tradi- 
tional with the owners. The great mansions along the 
shores behind the landings, and on the hills behind the 
shores, their villages of contributive buildings, and the 
surrounding parks and formal gardens which embel- 
lished so many, were not the production of any fagile 

149 



150 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

magic. They were an evolution. Far in perspective 
as they seem to-day — the survivals softened with the 
touch of centuries, some securely and exquisitely re- 
stored, others in ruins, but for the most part disappeared 
and the wound in the earth where they were screened by 
pine and honeysuckle and soft mosses — they came into 
being as the finished product of a long process. 

The early shelters were cabins built of hewn joined 
logs the crevices chinked with clay, one end supported 
by a rude chimney. Next, and soon, came the frame 
dwelling of hewn frame and pine clapboard siding and 
thatched with green shingles, swinging board shutters 
or sliding panels at the window openings, its unseasoned 
and unpainted sides drawing and curling and cracking 
under a withering sun. These temporary expedients 
of the pioneer gave way before the end of the seven- 
teenth century to numerous instances of houses of 
more permanent pretensions. Already indeed in a few 
cases wealthy and cultivated planters had by that time 
dug the deep foundations and built the strong walls of 
some of the historic survivals. In spite of additions 
and alterations Cross Manor on St. Inigoes Creek, St. 
Mary's River; Calvert's Rest on a portion of St. 
Gabriel's Manor on Calvert's Bay; and Bushwood on 
the south side of the Wicomico are believed to retain 
the sinews of the buildings dating in instances from the 
first generation of white settlers. 

The first even of the permanent houses were of wood, 
supported by brick chimneys. As brick making de- 
veloped the chimneys grew in size until in some cases 
the extension of their masonry formed the entire ends 
of dwellings otherwise of frame. One extant specimen 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 151 

of such early building is the old house on Calvert's 
Rest, and Rose Hill and La Grange furnish specimens 
of this developed to an impressive degree. The man- 
sions of brick seem to have followed only when the 
first generation of Potomac pioneers had passed away, 
in spite of the King's instructions to Sir Francis Wyat, 
Governor of Virginia from 1621 to 1642, requiring 
"Everyone having 500 acres of land to build a House of 
brick 24 feet long and 16 broad with a cellar to it and 
so proportionately for larger or lesser grants." 

It has been noted how difficult the first builders 
found it to get nails. In the absence of any manufac- 
turing on the river, and little enough on all tidewater 
tributary to Chesapeake Bay, from which the early 
settlers might have drawn for manufactured commodi- 
ties, nails took on an extraordinary value. The 
nearest supply was England. Under the circumstances 
they became so scarce and precious that the practice 
of a pioneer burning his dwelling when he moved to 
newer lands in order to carry along the nails, became 
so general throughout the colony of Virginia that the 
following law was passed in 1645 restraining the planter: 
"It shall not be lawfull for any person so deserting his 
plantation as aforesaid to burn any necessary housing 
that are scituated thereon, but shall receive so many 
nails as may be computed by 2 indifferent men were 
expended about the building thereof for full satisfac- 
tion." 

There was apparently no dependable local supply of 
nails even at the end of the seventeenth century, for 
William Fitzhugh of King George wrote at least once 
in 1695 and again in 1697 to his English agent to send 



152 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

him nails. Occasional!}^ among the chattels in the 
early wills, bracketed with silks, jewels, the family 
plate and other precious belongings, one finds nails 
bequeathed to lucky legatees. Nails early in the 
eighteenth century cost builders on the river 4 shillings 
6 pence per pound. In place of the unprocurable 
spike necessity invented the wooden pegs which were 
long used to join the heavy timbers, and they may be 
found to-day in the exposed girders and beams and 
joists of the old cellars and in the roof of many an 
ancient attic. 

It is believed that the first glass used in building in 
colonial America was used in the houses on tidewater 
Potomac. The exact date does not seem accurately 
determinable. One is surprised to find Beverley in his 
**History of Virginia," under the caption The Present 
State of Virginia, dated 1720, say that "of late" the 
private buildings have "their windows larger and sashed 
with crystal glass." It was in use in the dwellings along 
the Potomac long before this, at least twenty years 
earlier, for in 1698 William Fitzhugh wrote an English 
merchant: "Pray by the first conveniency of a London 
ship bound for this river send me in these things follow- 
ing," among which he lists "A box of Glass in quarries 
with lead answerable in Diamond cut, containing about 
80 to 100 feet." It is scarcely believable that Lord 
Baltimore tolerated the absence of glass in the windows 
of the Governor's Castle in St. Mary's City. 

The delicate details of the brick courses, windows, 
doors, cornices, stair-rails, newels, mantels, panelling, 
and carving in Oxon Hill, Stratford Hall, Bushwood, 
Bachelor's Hope, Gunston Hall, Woodlawn Mansion, 




( 'alvert's Rkst 
Stratfokd Hall 



Chimneys 



Locust Hill 
Deep Falls 




Staihwavs 



Mulberry Fields 
Bachelor's Hope 



BUSHWOOD 

WooDL.\w>j Mansion 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 153 

Mulberry Fields, Mount Vernon, and other Potomac 
houses, have often engaged the attention of architec- 
tural students searching for chaste models. The in- 
evitable inquiry, of the layman at least, is how the 
planters secured plans for their mansions. 

Architects, practising their profession as such, seem 
not to have existed in the colonies. When a planter 
was not his own architect, copying remembered details 
from buildings seen in England, he depended on the 
skilled builders who came out from England on the call 
of the rich gentry on the river. Such builders were 
often more than mere mechanics. With them it was 
often more than a trade, it was a profession and, indeed, 
on the testimony of some of the survivals, it was at 
times an art. Available lists of the greater libraries, 
such for instance as those of Councillor Carter of 
Nomini Hall and William Fitzhugh of Eagle's Nest, 
give no hint of books on architecture or building or in- 
deed of any books which might have had plates from 
which they might have copied or adapted classical de- 
tails. Yet from the evidence in the buildings such 
books must have been available. Woodlawn Mansion 
and Tudor Place, of a later period than many of the 
other old houses, are known to have been planned by 
Dr. William Thornton, architect of the Capitol of the 
United States. 

There was not, to be sure, a wide variety of types 
among the river houses. By far the greater number 
followed a convention, dictated by the warm summer 
climate. It consisted of a central hall, sometimes called 
the ''passage," extending through the house and flanked 
on each side by one and sometimes by two large square 



154 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

rooms. The ceilings were generally high. Above this 
first floor there was usually a half story with dormer 
windows. Only the finer mansions rose to two full 
stories. As the family grew so grew the house, with 
"additions" extending irregularly so far as any general 
plans were concerned. "But they don't covet to make 
them lofty," wrote Berkeley, "having extent enough 
of ground to build upon; and now and then they are 
visited by high winds, which would incommode a 
towering fabric." The effect was not unpleasant. It 
produced a rambling homestead, thoroughly informal, 
and generally suggestive of comfort and unconvention- 
ality. A few, but not many, of these houses of natural 
growth reached considerable size. 

The first-floor plan of nearly every one of the best 
surviving houses on the river flanks the wide central 
passage by two rooms on each side. Unsupported it 
produced a comparatively small house as Belvoir, 
Gunston Hall, Belle Air, and Mount Vernon before 
George Washington added to it. But in these houses a 
sincerity of construction, a fine sense of proportion and 
an elegance of architectural decoration in the reception 
rooms dissipated the feeling of smallness. 

In general, the chimneys supported the ends of the 
house. At other times they rose in adjacent corners 
of the two rooms each side of the hall producing corner 
fireplaces in each room. Recent excavations of the long- 
overgrown foundations of Belvoir reveal this as a fea- 
ture of this Fairfax house, which by this and other 
lines is also revealed as the probable model of the original 
plan of Mount Vernon as it was when Lawrence Wash- 
ington brought his bride, Anne Fairfax of Belvoir, from 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 155 

her father's house to her new home. Sometimes only 
the fireplaces attached themselves to the house and 
the chimneys rose above the first story apart from and 
independent of the end walls. The recess between 
double chimneys was often employed for a pent house, 
of which a notable example was found in the original 
structure of Porto Bello. 

From one end of the central hall rose the stairway 
turning over one of the front doors, sometimes by means 
of a rectangular landing, either horizontal as at Gunston 
Hall or ascending as at Bushwood, Oxon Hill, and 
Mount Vernon, and sometimes rising in one continuous 
curve as at Woodlawn Mansion and the Carlyle house 
in Alexandria in which was usually displayed the most 
ingenious examples of the joiners' skill. Occasionally 
the central hall had the unbroken formality of a drawing 
room as at Stratford Hall and the stairway was found 
rising in a passage between the two rooms on one side. 
The unbroken sweep suggestive of the old name "pas- 
sage" is given the great hall in Rose Hill by concealing 
the stairways on either side. Whatever may have 
been the details peculiar to each of the stairways, nearly 
all of them shared in common the low rise from tread 
to tread which gave a sense of gliding upstairs rather 
than climbing. 

With this conventional ground plan as a nucleus, the 
larger houses added additional architectural buildings 
at each end in varying numbers and disposed in a va- 
riety of ways. The open curved colonnade employed 
at Mount Vernon sets the adjoining oflSces forward of 
the main building in such a way as to create an open 
semi-circular court. A modification of this mode is 



156 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

found also in Mount Airy on the Rappahannock. No- 
mini Hall stood in the exact centre of its four related 
outbuildings which were distant from it one hundred 
yards and rose on the four corners of an imaginary 
square. Thej' were the school house, the stable, the 
coach house, and the work house. All had a second 
story devoted in some instances to sleeping apartments 
for bachelors and for servants. Stratford is centred 
in the same manner. Mulberry Fields reflects this idea 
with two fine unattached buildings set equi-distant 
from the big house, and parallel with it but off its axis. 
However, Mulberry Fields sits on the brow of the hill 
overlooking the low lands and the river in such a man- 
ner that there is no support for the two other corners of 
what might have completed a square similar to that at 
Nomini Hall and Stratford. 

When the additional buildings were attached to the 
central building it was usually in balanced uniformity 
at each end and employing the convention beautifully 
exemplified in Woodlawn Mansion. In this house, de- 
scribed as the finest example of Georgian architecture 
in America, terraces and railings at each end connect 
smaller detached houses with the larger unit of the cen- 
tral part, curtains and wings. Montpelier off the river 
in Prince George's County is one of this type, as is also 
the Carroll mansion of Homewood so happily incor- 
porated in the architectural scheme of Johns Hopkins 
University. On the Potomac three other similar ex- 
amples are known to have been built. One is Bush- 
wood on Wicomico, another is Rose Hill on Port 
Tobacco, and the third was Oxon Hill opposite Alexan- 
dria. Habrede venture near Rose Hill has its wings 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 157 

connected with the central house but extending at a 
slight angle to its axis. ^ 

Stratford Hall was built on a plan apparently unique 
among all the great houses not only on the Potomac but 
of any other part of the colonies. Its ground lines are 
perhaps best described as those of the letter H. The 
perpendiculars of the letter are represented by two 
wings each sixty feet by thirty feet and the horizontal 
link is a central hall thirty feet by twenty-five feet. 
There is one complete lofty story raised on a basement 
of which so much is above ground, however, that for 
all practical purposes Stratford is a two-story house. 
The central hall has a high domed ceiling; it is panelled 
in oak throughout except where the panelling is inter- 
rupted by inset bookcases; and its two sides, which are 
pierced by windows, have large doorways centred upon 
them. These doorways are led up to by banks of steps 
over arches of fine masonry and afford the main en- 
trances to the mansion. The basement is given over 
entirely to the domestic offices. On each of the other 
two sides of the central hall a smaller door leads into 
hallways extending through the wings to outside doors 
at each end of the house. There are twenty rooms in 
the house. The bricks in the basement are noticeably 
larger than those in the walls of the main story. Apart 
from its ground plan a unique feature of Stratford is 
the number of chimneys and the manner in which they 
are clustered. Four chimneys rise in a group from the 
centre of the roof of each wing. Each group of four is 
united at the top by four brick arches. The effect is 
at once that of stability with grace and hghtness. 
From a distance the appearance is as if a large open bel- 



158 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

fry rose above each wing. There have been many 
mythical secret chambers associated with colonial 
houses, but this arrangement of chimneys produced a 
genuine secret chamber in one of the wings at Stratford. 
It is so completely hidden that for some time its very 
existence was unsuspected and it was discovered quite 
accidentally by a carpenter who, while working in the 
garret, disturbed a plank which had concealed its en- 
trance. This plank was in fact a sliding door set under 
the floor and held in place by a secret spring. The 
room thus entered from above is about eight feet square 
and its walls are the brick-work of the chimneys and 
fireplaces. 

A curious feature common to most of the very early 
river houses was the absence of any portico. This may 
have been English tenacity to English custom regardless 
of climatic requirements. In the second and third 
generations the heat conquered and the comfort of a 
shaded out-of-door room was grudgingly acknowl- 
edged, at first by small one-story porticos before the 
front doors. This was the ultimate concession of most 
buildings up to the last quarter of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. Then a Greek revival influenced the early Re- 
publican architecture and there rose before the plan- 
ters' mansions new and old some fine specimens of 
porticos with four large columns rising to a pediment 
on a level with the roof of the house. Commonly 
floored with dressed wood, the porticos were sometimes 
paved with brick and Washington carefully laid his 
"piazza" at Mount Vernon with stone flags imported 
from Lord Lonsdale's estate near Whitehaven, England. 
It is interesting to conjecture whether a similar purpose 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 159 

may not have been served by the "1,000 feet of flag 
stones'* ordered over from England in Captain Quin- 
ney's ship by Thomas Jett of Westmoreland. 

One of the favoured conventions in speaking of colonial 
houses, especially those of tidewater Virginia and 
Maryland, is to say that they were built of "bricks 
brought from England." So frequently is this repeated 
that one might imagine all the bricks of all the colonial 
mansions had been carried across the Atlantic. It 
must be said in justice to most dependable chroniclers 
that they are innocent of promoting this fiction. 

A careful search among historical sources to discover 
how extensive was the importation of brick for building 
on the Potomac uncovered some interesting informa- 
tion. It is, of course, not to be pretended that brick 
were not brought from England. There is evidence to 
show there were such importations. The letter-book 
of Thomas Kett discloses, in a letter written in 1770 to 
John Backhouse, a Liverpool merchant, a request that 
he send "by return of Captain Quinney as many Bricks 
as he usually brings." There are other isolated in- 
stances. On the other hand, a memorandum from the 
Custodian of the Maryland Historical Society in 1903 
as to the entire number of importations of brick into 
that colony shows that they totalled three; one of 
2,000 bricks from Charlestown, S. C; one of 6,000 from 
Philadelphia; and one, and only one, of 6,000 from 
Bristol, England, the last about 1769 when brick kilns 
abounded on this side of the Atlantic. Six thousand 
brick, incidentally, would just about meet the require- 
ments of one first-class old-time chimney. There is no 
word in all William Fitzhugh's extensive business cor- 



160 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

respondence with his English agents about sending 
brick to the Potomac, but he does say in 1681: "If you 
could procure me a Bricklayer or Carpenter or both, it 
would do me a great kindness and save me a great deal 
of money in my present building." 

The need to import brick from England to the Poto- 
mac did not exist to any pressing degree. The river 
valley is rich in brick clay. Brick-makers were among 
the earliest immigrants. Nevertheless, wooden build- 
ings were raised almost exclusively during the seven- 
teenth century and the brick burned on the plantations 
should have been adequate for the first chimneys which 
were not built of stone. The earliest reports which 
were sent back to England in 1607 referred to the good 
"red clay fitt for bricks." Six years later the Reverend 
Alexander Whitaker in the course of the "Good Newes 
from Virginia" which he sent across the sea, said: 
"the higher ground is clay and sand mixed together at 
the top; but, if wee digge any depth, (as we have done 
for our bricks) wee finde it to be redde clay." More- 
over, the sailing ships were comparatively small and too 
frail to weather a considerable consignment of such com- 
pact, heavy, shifting freight. Finally, there was a 
more pressing need for manufactured articles out of 
England which precluded the use of precious space 
for a rough, cheap, cumbersome cargo of a commodity 
which was abundantly available on this side of the 
ocean. 

As a matter of curious as well as conclusive fact a 
pamphlet published in England the same year as the 
landing at St. Mary's, and made up of extracts from 
the first letters home, relates that Governor Calvert's 







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party before ascending to the Potomac to seek a site for 
settlement, called on "Governor Harvie" of Virginia by 
whom they were told that "when his Lordship should 
be resolved on a convenient place to make himself a 
seat, he should be able to provide him with so much 
brick and tile as he should have occasion to employ, 
until his Lordship had made his own." The Pro- 
prietor is quoted as saying a year later: "We have a 
loam as makes as fine bricks as any in England." 

It is true there are references in old papers to "Eng- 
lish brick" and to "Dutch brick." This mistakenly 
has been supposed to refer to "brick from England" 
and "brick from Holland." The fact is it refers to 
types or sizes of brick burned here. "Dutch brick" 
were large and "English brick" were a smaller size. 

So it is fair to assume that even the first presumably 
of the brick mansions on the river was built of brick 
not only not imported from England, but not even im- 
ported from Virginia, but burned of the Potomac's clay 
which made "as fine bricks as any in England." This 
was the Governor's mansion, called the Governor's 
Castle, at St. Mary's City, of which the records speak 
as early as 1639. It stood within the memory of wit- 
nesses living when Kennedy, in 1839, wrote his romance 
of colonial Maryland, "Rob of the Bowl, a Legend of 
St. Inigoes," and though its glory had faded, they were 
able to furnish sufficient details for the following 
description : 

"A massive building of dark brick, two stories in 
height, and penetrated by narrow windows, looking 
forth, beyond the fort, upon the river, constituted the 
chief member or main body of the mansion. This was 



162 rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

capped by a wooden, balustraded parapet, terminating, 
at each extremity, in a scroll like the head of a violin, 
and, in the middle, sustaining an entablature that rose 
to a summit on which was mounted a weathercock. 
From this central structure, right and left, a series of 
arcades, corridors, and vestibules served to bring into 
line a range of auxiliary or subordinate buildings of 
grotesque shapes, of which several were bonnetted like 
haycocks — the array terminating on one flank, in a 
private chapel surmounted by a cross, and, on the 
other, in a building of similar size but of a different 
figure, which was designed and sometimes used for a 
banqueting room. The impression produced on the 
observer, by this orderly though not uniform mass of 
building, with its various offices for household comfort, 
was not displeasing to his sense of rural beauty, nor, 
from its ample range and capacious accommodation, 
did it fail to enhance his opinion of the stateliness and 
feudal importance, as well as the hospitality of the 
Lord Proprietary. The armorial bearings of the Balti- 
more family, emblazoned on a shield of free-stone, were 
built into the pediment of an arched brick porch which 
shaded the great hall door. In the rear of the buildings, 
a circular sweep of wall and paling reached as far as a 
group of stables, kennels and sheds. Vanward the same 
kind of enclosures, more ornate in their fashion, shut in a 
grassy court, to which admission was gained through 
a heavy iron gate swung between square, stuccoed 
pillars each of which was surmounted by a couchant 
lion carved in stone." 

It might have been added that the brick of this lordly 
mansion was laid in "English bond" as this was preva- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 163 

lent in colonial building prior to 1710. This consisted 
of alternate courses of brick laid lengthwise, the headers 
carrying a bluish glaze. The English bond was dis- 
placed after 1710 by the rising popularity of "Flemish 
bond," which consisted of identical courses made up of 
regularly alternating heads and lengths, the heads us- 
ually glazed. Comparatively modern houses reveal 
courses all laid of lengths except each seventh course 
laid entirely in heads. Another device was to lay the 
bricks entirely by headers, but this was judged less 
satisfactory than the other methods. 

The two fronts of Mulberry Fields as also of the hand- 
some ruin half way up the hill at Dumfries, known lo- 
cally as having been owned by Colonel Henderson 
and Colonel Willoughby Tibbs, were laid entirely by 
headers, and the ends of both these houses were laid 
uniformly in Flemish bond. There are other interest- 
ing similarities in these two houses, particularly in the 
delicate manner in which the interior cornices break and 
project with the doors and windows, which suggest that 
the same hand directed the building if not the planning 
of both of them. 

The durability of the old brick mansions and other 
old brick buildings has been the wonder of those who 
have seen them and noted the beautiful white mortar 
full and flush to this day with the large bricks which 
were the prevailing colonial type. Often when restora- 
tions are undertaken, and the masonry is broken into, 
it is the brick and not the mortar which cracks under 
the blow of the hammer. The chief source of the won- 
derful mortar introduced into the houses on the Poto- 
mac was found in the beds underneath the waters of 



164 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the inlets. It was made of pulverized oyster-shells. 
It seems as if the riddle of the astonishing durability of 
the brick-work may be somewhat solved by the terms of 
a characteristic contract, that for Christ Church in 
Alexandria, built in 1766, which required a mortar 
made of "two parts lime and one part sand." This is 
the hardy reverse of modern proportions. 

That same contract called for shingles of the best 
cypress or juniper and three quarters of an inch thick. 
Shingles were indeed most generally, though not uni- 
versally, used in roofing. Accustomed as were the colo- 
nists to their tiled houses in England, they used little 
tile roofing here. It was as impractical as to import 
brick and, speaking of tile-making, one of the old chron- 
iclers said that "in that trade the brickmakers have 
not the art to do it, it shrinketh." Slate was available 
in native deposits, but too far inland on the dry fron- 
tiers to make practicable the carriage to the river. It 
is recorded in rare instances that houses were "covered 
ontop with lead." One such house, Shooter's Hill on 
the Rappahannock, is reported not only to have had a 
lead roof "on top of the house" but a "fish pond on it, 
where a mess of fish might be caught at any time." 

Just in proportion to the fineness of his house was the 
planter punctilious about the setting which he gave it. 
Nearly all houses were double fronted. The front fac- 
ing away from the river was the public or approach 
front. There was no back to the house. The other, 
overlooking the water, was private, and here the planter 
built his portico whenever his mansion had one, and the 
more pretentious was the house if it had one on each 
front. The view of each fagade was unobscured by 




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POTOMAC LANDINGS 165 

any trees, but at each end of the house rose a frame of 
green which extended away in groves in both directions. 

Box and privet were generously employed in formal 
hedging, and the landscape scheme of the greater places 
balanced the kitchen or vegetable garden on one side 
with the formal or flower garden on the other. In the 
latter the lady of the manor or the mistress of the man- 
sion devoted herself to beds of larkspur, periwinkles, 
snapdragons, candytufts, and daffodils. About the 
walls rose hollyhocks, lilacs, and snowballs, over them 
hung luscious pendants of wisteria, with lilies of the 
valley in a damp corner, and, about and beyond, other 
beds of dame's violet, lady's slipper, heart's ease, cow- 
slip, meadow-sweet, pasque flower, feverfew, groundsel, 
thrift, spurge, Adam and Eve, yarrow, milfoil, loose- 
strife, clove pink, daisies, eglantine, jonquils, moss pink, 
laburnum, windflower and Joseph's lily, dittery and 
drop wart, monk's hood and innocence; shrubbery 
tangles banked the far corners; and a part of it all, but 
more cultivated, was the shadowed green of the intri- 
cate low box maze. 

In addition to mazes and hedges of box, a conven- 
tional use of this handsome hardy shrubbery was to 
form the inner circumference of the circular drive 
before the mansion. At Rose Hill, however, it survives 
in a design unique among all places on the Potomac. 
Between the house and the long terraces on the south, 
yet separated from the house by an extensive lawn, is 
a growth of box six feet high in a design extending along 
the front for over one hundred and fifty feet. There is 
a rectangular hedge either side of a broad open sweep 
of lawn toward the terraces. The long side of each 



lOG POTOMAC LANDINGS 

of these rectangles facing the bnilding, instead of being 
at riglit angles with the shorter sides, curves inward 
until it nearly touches the other long side. The effect 
from the house is of two supported garlands of massive 
box. These graceful hedges screen the rose gardens 
which gave the place its name. One other touch in this 
carefully wrought design is a small circle of box which 
interrupts the lawn between the garlands at a point 
near the top of the terraces. 

One of the favourite details in landscapery was the use 
of the so-called "ha-ha walls" of which there are notable 
examples at Mount Vernon. These were placed at 
some distance from the mansion in trenches about three 
feet deep, the lawn reaching flush with the top of the 
inner side of the wall and so obscuring it from the house. 
Inside the encompassing ha-ha walls the lawns were 
kept cropped by artificial means. Beyond the walls 
cattle were introduced into the middle distance, yet 
they were artfully prevented from approaching by the 
invisible walls which rose sheer from the bottom of the 
trench. 

Another cultivated detail of the gTounds about the 
mansion was the walk of green turf, or possibly of 
milky oyster-shells, which extended from the great 
house toward the river, so often with a vista, between 
converging parallels of dark box hedge, of green banks, 
sunlit waters, and cloud-flecked skies, all the more pic- 
turesque if, as likely, a schooner's wings gave a point of 
white to the blue horizon. There is a vaster and more 
original planting of hedges of ancient trees at Mulberry 
Fields. The house stands on the edge of a plateau 
about eighty feet above the fields which extend three 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 167 

quarters of a mile to the shore of the river. The low- 
lands are bisected by apparently parallel hedges of 
enormous oaks, cedars, mulberries, and other trees, but 
in reality the trees are planted in a perspective widening 
from house to river, creating an illusion which seems to 
bring the house nearer to the water. This hedged cen- 
tral field has inherited the name of Avenue Field, and 
it is flanked by Race-track Field and Wood-yard Field. 



CHAPTER X 

Domestic Life in the "Great House" — Furniture — Furnishings — 
Shopping in London by Ships from the Landings — Family 
Portraits — Musical Instruments — Keeping the Fireplaces 
Flaming in Winter — Lighting Problems — Following London 
Fashions by the Mail Order System — Meals — Cooking — 
Strong Drink and Toasts by Candle Light. 

DOMESTIC life on the big river plantations was 
the refinement of the means and the methods of 
the earliest settlers rather than a scientific ad- 
vance on anything those settlers knew or had. When 
the houses were largest and the furnishings most elegant 
the homes were still lighted by candles, heated by the 
blazing log in the fireplace, and the cooks performed 
their miracles on no other altar than the brick hearths 
of the open kitchen chimneys. Abundance came out 
of the earth, and direct from bushes and trees, with 
nature's own freshness instead of with bruised and 
withered second-handedness from congested markets. 

The domestic arts had no literature. Science had not 
yet eliminated hand power and personal resourcefulness 
in the individual. Needle-work, cookery, preserving, 
and other domestic crafts of the loom, the tub, the 
smoke house, the coops, the gardens, the orchards and 
the fields were still traditional arts, founded on in- 
dividual expertness, and transmitted in all their phases 
as domestic rites from generation to generation of 
masters and mistresses on the one hand and servants 

108 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 169 

and "hands" on the other. If the methods were crude 
they, nevertheless, made artists instead of mere auto- 
matons. And the product did not lack in variety, ex- 
cellence, or a quality which has seldom been obtained 
since except when the labour-saving methods have been 
put aside and the elemental personal touch has been re- 
introduced. 

Home life was a school of domestic science for the 
boys and girls whose fathers and mothers were at once 
the inventors, operators, and teachers. Yet it did not 
preclude an active and elegant social life or a public 
career in which many a planter revealed himself as un- 
surpassed as philosopher, orator, legislator, and patriot. 

The planter's residence was habitually referred to on 
the place as "the big house" or "the great house." It 
sometimes justified the adjective only by comparison 
with the small houses where the overseers and house 
servants dwelt and with the cabins in the "quarters" 
of the field slaves or, as they were sometimes called, the 
"crop negroes." Even on many of the manors of the 
Maryland shore and on some of the large plantations 
on the Virginia shore the dwelling house contained only 
from eight to thirteen rooms. The large houses were 
the exception. The more important houses even de- 
rived their distinction less from the number of rooms 
than from the large size, the noble proportions, and the 
exquisite decorations at least of the reception rooms on 
the first floor. 

But the size or importance of a domestic establish- 
ment was not always estimated by the number of rooms 
in the mansion. This frequently was merely a central 
building and, in the enumeration of its units, excluded 



170 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

many master bedrooms, the kitchens, pantries, store- 
rooms, laimdry, and other domestic offices. Nomini 
Hall, a mansion of eight rooms, housed one of the richest 
and most distinguished gentlemen on the river in the 
eighteenth century, whose family numbered twelve 
children and whose hospitality was representatively 
openhanded. Fithian described the house and the 
disposition of the rooms with nice detail. The "eight'* 
rooms were undoubtedly exclusive of a large central 
passage forty -four feet long by about fourteen feet wide 
on the first floor and a similar hall above. Such a hall 
on the first floor was used usually as a living room ex- 
cept, as it had no fireplace, in the winter months and 
here the visitors who came to call or, as was more fre- 
quently the case, to spend the day, were entertained. 
The upper hall was used by the mistress and her daugh- 
ters and the sewing women as a work room. Fithian 
enumerated the eight rooms at Nomini as follows: 
"Below is a dining Room where we usually sit [he was 
writing on March 1 toward the end of winter]; the 
second is a dining-Room for the Children; the third is 
Mr. Carter's study; & the fourth is a Ball-Room thirty 
feet long. Above stairs, one Room is for Mr. & Mrs. 
Carter; the second is for the young Ladies; and the other 
two for occasional Company." The boys of the family 
lived in the bachelors' quarters over the recitation rooms 
in the School-House "with great Neatness, & Con- 
venience; each one has a bed to himself." But a "neat 
and convenient" disposal of all the Carter girls in that 
one upstairs chamber is somewhat of a problem even 
when it is taken into consideration that each room was 
about thirty by twenty -two feet. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 171 

The domestic life of such an establishment as was 
found at Nomini Hall, Pecatone, Chantilly, Bushfield, 
Stratford, Cross Manor, Rose Croft, Porto Bello, Bush- 
wood, Bachelor's Hope, Bedford, Eagle's Nest, Belvoir, 
Mount Vernon, Warburton Manor, Oxon Hill, Abing- 
don, and other distinguished estates on both sides of 
the river, will better typify domestic life on all the 
river plantations because, though all phases of life on a 
big plantation were not reflected in each smaller home, 
the larger contained all the elements found either de- 
tached or developed to a less interesting degree in the 
smaller. 

At first the interiors of the houses were rudely plas- 
tered and "whitened." Later plaster was applied with 
a skill and a finish which were as enduring as remark- 
able. The abundance of wood along the river shores 
suggested panelling very early, and from appearing 
first only between the baseboard and the chair-rail, 
it later supported the rising tiers of stair treads in the 
great passage, and often walled the entire hall, the draw- 
ing room, the dining room, and other rooms "below 
stairs." A unique feature surviving with much simi- 
larity at Mulberry Fields and Belle Air is the panel- 
ling in the central hall. That portion of it in Mulberry 
Fields between the hall and the dining room on one 
side and the drawing room on the other side, is made 
of wood nearly two inches thick and it constitutes the 
entire wall in these places, forming a species of panelled 
screen. In Belle Air similar panelling was not always 
permanently in place and is said to have been removed 
on the occasion of a great party to provide an extensive 
ballroom for the dancing. 



172 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The furniture and furnishings came "out from Eng- 
land." Class for class, and purse for purse, the Poto- 
mac house in the eighteenth century seems to have been 
furnished much like an English house of the same period. 
No fund of information as to what was to be found in 
those old houses is more, interesting or more reliable 
than the mentions of chattels in the old inventories and 
wills. Thomas gleaned references in St. Mary's docu- 
ments to the parlour bed; trundle bed; the dresser; the 
chest of drawers; the looking glass; later the pier glass 
and still later the chimney glass; the silk and worsted 
bed curtains, which were a convention of cool English 
life and survived in the warmer climate an extraordi- 
nary long time; bolsters with *'conuise" ticking and filled 
with feathers, flock or cat-tail; Dutch linen sheets and 
napkins; Holland blankets; dimity coverlets; quilted 
coverlets; Turkish rugs; crickets; stools; chairs, though 
rare early, naturally enough, for chairs were uncommon 
even in England until early in the seventeenth century; 
the harpsichord; the spinet; the "joined" dining table; 
brass and iron "and-irons"; silver, brass, and iron can- 
dlesticks; silver salvers; wooden "dishes"; the "silver 
sack cup"; sugar tankard; tea tankard; iron knives; 
silver knives; pewter plates; pewter dishes; pewter 
spoons; pewter cups and saucers; "Pewter household 
vessels of almost every description," and he notes that 
"the reign of pewter in early Maryland was practically 
unbroken for the first forty years, when silver service 
made its appearance, and still later, with the introduc- 
tion of tea and coffee, came china cups and saucers, and 
soon full sets of porcelain table ware. Occasional 
references are to be found to the * sedan chair,' the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 173 

*bladen' and the * horse-hair,' but it curiously appears 
that neither the fork or the plow are mentioned in the 
testamentary proceedings of St. Mary's County during 
the first eighty years of its history." 

Although the immigrants brought only the essentials 
with them, they and their descendants sent to London 
for other essentials and for all luxuries. There was no 
adequate shopping point nearer. As a rule the ship 
that took tobacco from the Potomac landings took also 
letters to the planters' English agents requesting them 
to send those articles which gave ease and distinction 
to the interior of the houses. "Please procure me a 
Suit of Tapestry hangings for a Room twenty foot long, 
sixteen foot wide, and nine foot high and half a dozen 
chairs suitable," wrote William Fitzhugh of Bedford in 
1683. Other furnishings asked for, from time to time, 
were: "two pairs of small Andirons for Chamber Chim- 
neys, one pair of brass ones, with fire shovel and tongs, 
and one pair of iron ones well glazed; with fire shovel 
and tongs, also two indifferent large Iron backs for 
chimney wch. I would have you send me by the first 
ships"; a "home Shagged Saddle"; "Two Silver Dishes 
weighing 50 oz. apiece or thereabouts, two Ditto weigh- 
ing 70 oz. apiece or thereabouts, a Sett of Castors that 
is to say for Sugar, Pepper and Mustard about 24 or 
25 oz., a basin betwixt 40 & 45 oz., a Salver about 30 oz., 
a ladle about 10 oz., a case containing a dozen silver 
hafted Knives and a dozen silver hafted forks answer- 
able, what remains if any, let it be laid out in a large 
Salt and what else you may think convenient"; "I have 
in this sent you the Coat blazoned wch, I desired you 
to get fair cut in Steel and for fear of loss again I believe 



174 POTOMz\C LANDINGS 

it would not be much amiss to send me another large 
one upon an Ivory Stand." He wrote repeatedly for 
silver and his will in 1790 furnishes a catalogue of an 
extensive collection. The latter would indicate that 
land, slaves, and silver were about all that he considered 
of value. 

George Washington, in 1757, nearly two years before 
he married the future mistress of Mount Vernon and 
the year before he had even met her, wrote to London 
for "a Mahogany bedstead with carved and fluted 
pillars and yellow silk and worsted damask hangings; 
window curtains to match; six mahogany chairs, with 
gothic arch backs and seats of yellow silk and worsted 
damask, an elbow chair, a fine neat mahogany serpen- 
tine dressing table, with a mirror and brass trimmings, 
a pair of fine carved and gilt sconces." Later, in the 
course of those long "invoices of goods," which it is easy 
to imagine the new bride and groom enjoyed so much 
in the making, he sent to London for these items: 

"1 Tester Bedstead 7^ feet pitch with fashionable 
bleu or blue and white curtains to suit a Room laid 
w yl Ireld. paper. — 

"Window curtains of the same for two windows; 
with either Papier Mache Cornish to them, or Cornish 
covered with the Cloth. 

"1 fine Bed Coverlid to match the Curtains. 4 
chair bottoms of the same; that is, as much covering 
suited to the above furniture as will go over the seats 
of 4 chairs (which I have by me) in order to make the 
whole furniture in this Room uniformly handsome and 
genteel. 

1. Fashionable Sett of Desert Glasses and Stands 



<c 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 175 

for Sweetmeats Jellys &c — together with Wash Glasses 
and a proper stand for them also. — 

"2 Setts of Chamber, or Bed Carpets — Wilton. 

"4. Fashinable China Branches & Stands for Can- 
dles, 

"2 Neat fire Screens — 

"50 lbs Spirma Citi Candles — 

"6 Carving Knives and Forks — handles of stained 
Ivory and bound with Silver. 

" 1 Large neat and Easy Couch for a Passage. 

"50 yards of best Floor Matting.— " 

In other orders, he asks his agent to send out a marble 
chimney piece and "a neat landskip" to hang over it; 
busts of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charles 
XII of Sweden, the King of Prussia, Prince Eugene, and 
the Duke of Marlborough; "2 Wild Beasts, not to ex- 
ceed twelve inches in height, nor eighteen in length"; 
and "Sundry small ornaments for chimney piece." 
Substitutes in some instances had to be sent. Wash- 
ington also bought furnishings from the Fairfaxes when 
they closed Bel voir in 1774 and returned to England, 
which are indicative of the planters' domestic sur- 
roundings: 

" 1 mahogany shaving desk 4£, 1 settee bed and fur- 
niture 13 £, 4 mahogany chairs, 4£, 1 chamber carpet 
l£ Is, 1 oval glass with gilt frame in the 'green room' 
4 £ 5s, 1 mahogany chest and drawers in Mrs. Fairfax's 
chamber 12 £ 10s, 1 mahogany sideboard 12 £ 5s, 
1 mahogany cistern and stand 4 £, 1 mahogany voider, 
a dish tray and knife tray 1 £ 10s; 1 Japan bread tray, 
7s, 12 chairs and 3 window curtains from dining room 
31 £, 1 looking glass and gilt frame 13 £ 5s, 2 candle 



176 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

sticks and a bust of Shakespeare 1 £ 6s, 3 floor carpets 
in gentlemen's room 3 £ 5s, 1 large carpet 11 £, 1 
mahogany wash desk, &c., 1 £ 2s 6d; 1 mahogany close 
stool 1 £ 10s, 2 mattresses 4 £ 10s, 1 pair andirons, 
tongs, fender and shovel, 3 £ 10s; 1 pair andirons, 
tongs, fender and shovel, 3 £ 17s 6d; 1 pair dog irons in 
great kitchen 3 £, 1 hot rache 4 £, 1 roasting fork 2s 6d, 
1 plate basket 3s, 1 mahogany spider make tea table 
1 £ lis, 1 screen 10s, 1 carpet 2 £ 15s, 1 pair bellows and 
brush lis, 2 window curtains 2 £, 1 large marble mortar 
1 £ Is, 1 hot rache in cellar 1 £ 7s 6d, 2 mahogany card 
tables 4 £, 1 bed, pair of blankets, 19 coverlets, pillows, 
bolsters, and 1 mahogany table, 11 £; bottles and 
pickle pots 14s, 1 dozen mountain wine 1 £ 4s, 4 chariot 
glasses frames 12s 6d, 12 pewter water plates 1 £." 

There was a room known as the Library at Mount 
Vernon with shelves built into the sides and the books 
screened by glass doors. More often even the preten- 
tious houses merely had shelves built into the recesses 
on either side of the chimney of one of the reception 
rooms, but this was less in evidence than the moveable 
mahogany bookcases with mullioned glass doors which 
sat in the passage, or the parlour or the master's study or 
on the stair landing as was most decorative or conven- 
ient. The art of building-in conveniences did not 
trouble the colonial. A square room with windows, 
doors, and a fireplace was his entire concern. Closets of 
any kind were rare. Hence moveable bookcases and 
china-cabinets and cedar chests and clothes-presses 
were among the conspicuous furnishings of nearly all 
houses. 

Portraits were much in evidence in the better houses. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 177 

Stannard mentions seven of the most extensive collec- 
tions of portraits of Virginia families, and in his list in- 
cludes the Carters, the Fitzhughs, and the Lees, all of 
the Potomac. To these must be added the Washington 
and Custis portraits, and in Maryland river manors 
were portraits of the Lords Baltimore and their ladies, 
of the other Calverts, and of the Neales, Hansons, 
Smallwoods, Jenifers, and Addisons at least. 

If a charitable silence is the best word that can be 
spoken for some of the survivals in certain galleries of 
ancestors, it is equally true that the broad panels of 
many of the river houses were the settings of the work 
of the better English portrait painters of the period. 
Some of the immigrants brought family portraits with 
them. Others sat to artists in their London studios, for 
the ships that sailed out of the river laden with tobacco 
sometimes carried along one of the planter himself, or 
some member of his family, more often one or two of 
the boys off to school in England, and they took occa- 
sion while there to be "drawn" by one of the fashion- 
able "limners." Some of these portraits were the work 
of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and there are indications that 
Sir Godfrey Kneller or Sir Peter Lely accounted for 
others. Naturally the greater number were painted 
here in America and of these the best survivals were 
by WoUaston, Hesselius, reported a pupil of Kneller, 
Bridges, Peale, and Gilbert Stuart. As old house after 
old house burned down, however, many of the best of 
the old portraits and the evidence of their painters 
disappeared. 

From the walls of Mount Airy there looked down upon 
generation after generation of Calverts an interesting 



178 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

gallery of family figures. Among these were a first 
Charles Lord Baltimore, believed by the family to be 
from Van Dyke's brush; a Benedict Leonard, fourth 
Baron of Baltimore; the second Charles Lord Baltimore 
by LeBrun, painted in the year 1715 just after he left 
college; another of this same Charles as a man of fashion 
of his pictorial period; and two life-size kit-kat por- 
traits of Benedict Calvert and of Elizabeth Calvert 
his wife and cousin "well painted in formal style by 
Wollaston." 

When Robert, later Councillor, Carter went to 
England as a young man he brought home a charming 
portrait of himself by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The 
features of Thomas Atwood Digges of Warburton Manor 
survive in another portrait ascribed to the same master, 
with more credible evidence of authorship than is to be 
found in some other portraits, including that of Richard 
Lee, the Immigrant, referred to as a Sir Peter Lely. 
The familiar portrait of Martha Washington is the 
most conspicuous one ascribed to Wollaston. Charles 
Wilson Peale painted General William Small wood, John 
Hanson, and Richard Henry Lee. The list of Gilbert 
Stuarts includes George Washington, Nellie Custis 
Lewis, Eliza Custis Law, George Mason of Gunston 
Hall, Mrs. Charles Lee of Shuter's Hill at Alexandria, 
Richard Henry Lee and "Light-Horse Harry" Lee. 
Hesselius, preceptor of Peale, found more subjects on 
the Maryland shore than across the river where, never- 
theless, he is known to have done a George Mason and 
copied a seventeenth-century portrait of the first of the 
Fitzhughs. He also executed the familiar portrait of 
John Hanson, done while he was president of the Conti- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 179 

nental Congress. Others of his pictures were no doubt 
brought to the Potomac when his widow came to be 
mistress of Oxon Hill as the wife of Walter Dulaney . 
Addison. 

It is a tradition on the river that the more prolific 
painters, among whom Hesselius was counted, travelled 
with canvases in which the dress and the background 
were already painted in, presumably by pupils or facto- 
tums. The prospective subject made choice of one of 
the several costumes, the price varying according to the 
limned richness with which they chose to be adorned. 
The artist brushed in the face and hands and the job 
was done, verily "with neatness and dispatch." 

When word reached the Potomac in 1766 of the Brit- 
ish Lord High Chancellor's (Lord Camden) speech in 
opposition to the Stamp Act, the citizens of W^estmore- 
land subscribed to a fund in order to employ "the most 
excellent portrait painter of Great Britain to take a 
picture of Lord Camden to be placed in the most con- 
spicuous Part of the Court House of Westmoreland." 
Richard Henry Lee had the correspondence in hand. 
He suggested Benjamin West, then in London, giving 
as his reason that "an American deserves the preference 
in this business." His Lordship agreed to sit for West, 
but forgot his promise. The incident, therefore, fur- 
nishes only the foundation of the story of one of the 
pictures which did not reach the river. Two years 
later, however, Edmund Jennings of London sent 
"the Gentlemen of Westmoreland" a portrait of Lord 
Chatham, painted by Peale. This canvas arrived and 
after a migratory existence elsewhere in Virginia even- 
tuallv reached the Court House where it became a 



180 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

feature in an extensive collection of portraits of famous 
sons of Westmoreland. 

Musical instruments came slowly into the homes, 
fiddles first and most universally. But letters and wills 
tell of harpsichords and spinets by the middle of the 
eighteenth century. Nomini Hall had in Councillor 
Carter a master who, according to Fithian, *'had a 
good Ear for Music; a vastly delicate Taste; and keeps 
good Instruments, he has here at Home a Harpsichord, 
Forte-Piano, Harmonica, Guitar & German Flutes." 
The harmonica is described by the Councillor in his note- 
book as a wonderful new instrument invented by "Mr. 
B. Franklin of Philadelphia . . . being the musical 
glasses without water, framed into a complete instru- 
ment, capable of thorough bass and never out of tune." 
The cullings from Fithian's Diary tell more of this 
curious instrument and of the part played by music in 
the home life at Nomini: ^'Evening Mr. Carter spent 
in playing on the Harmonica; It is the first time I have 
heard the Instrument. The music is charming. He 
play'd Water parted from the Sea ! — The notes are clear 
and inexpressably Soft, they swell, and are inexpressibly 
grand; and either it is because the sounds are new, and 
therefore please me, or it is the most captivating Instru- 
ment I have ever heard. The sounds very much re- 
semble the human voice, and in my opinion they far 
exceed the swelling Organ." . . . "While we supped 
Mr. Carter as he often does played on the Forte-Piano. 
He almost never sups." . . . "When we returned 
about Candle-Light, we found Mrs. Carter in the yard 
seeing to the Roosting of her Poultry; and the Colonel 
in the Parlour tuning his Guitar." . . . "In the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 181 

Evening the Colonel is busy in transposing Music. 
. . . His main studies are Law and Music, the latter 
of which appears to be his darling Amusement." . . . 
"The Colonel at Dinner gave Ben and I a Piece of Music 
to prepare on our Flutes, in which he is to perform the 
thorough Bass." . . . "Evening we played in our 
small Concert our old Sonata, & besides Felton's 
Gavott; supped at nine." . . . "Evening at coffee 
the Colonel shew'd me a book of vocal Musick which 
he has just imported, it is a collection of psalm-Tunes, 
Hymns and Anthems set in four parts for the Voice; he 
seems to be much taken with it & says we must learn 
and perform some of them in their several parts with 
our voices & with instruments." The catalogue of this 
gentleman's library included "Malcolm on Music," 
"Book of Italian Music," "Handels Operas for Flute, 
2 vol's," in addition to " 17 volumes of Music, by various 
Authors." General Washington blew the flute while 
Nellie Custis tinkled the harpsichord. These two in- 
struments are on view at Mount Vernon. Doubtless 
if other diaries as ingenuous and complete as that of the 
tutor from Princeton were preserved, echoes of other 
winter evenings in the old river mansions would have 
come down to us. 

The mental impression of river life is apt to focus on 
summer exclusively. It is true that along the Potomac 
of the landings spring comes early, summer is long, 
and autumn sometimes crowds its mildness on Christ- 
mas. But winter claims its toll of cold days and nights, 
and the only way the colonists met them was with the 
open fireplace and candle-light. The forests of oak and 
pine were plentiful, but calculation staggers before the 



182 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

quantities of kindlers and back-logs required to supply 
the fireplaces in the great house, the kitchens and laun- 
dry and workhouses, and all the other outbuildings, 
quarters and farms. The ever-informing Fithian noted : 
"Mr. Carter has a Cart & three pairs of Oxen which 
every Day bring in four Loads of Wood, Sunday ex- 
cepted, & yet these very severe Days we have none to 
spare; And indeed I do not wonder, for in the Great 
House, School House, Kitchen, &c. there are twenty- 
Eight steady fires! & most of these are very large!" 

When to the glow of the open blazing fire was added 
the twinkle of the candles, reflected in the dark polished 
furniture, the silver and crystal and mirrors, the effect 
must have been contenting beyond comparison. The 
most popular candles were made at home of the wax of 
the myrtle, for they gave the clearest light and exhaled 
an exciuisite odour. Myrtle grew everywhere along the 
river inlets, especially in the swamps at the heads of the 
creeks, and the myrtle-wax candle was as accessible to 
the poor as to the rich, though the pioneers got their 
light from the even simpler pine knot. Candles were 
also made of deer suet, beeswax and beef -tallow. When 
candles were ordered from England "sperma ceti" were 
specified. But neither home production nor importa- 
tion from England was proof against the easy borrower 
and the tight lender. Not the least light thrown by 
this note from the diary of Colonel Carter of Sabine 
Hall, neighbour and kinsman of the Nomini Carters, is 
that which it casts on the unchangeableness of human 
nature: "I can borrow no candles at Beverley's &, if 
Thompson's purchase from Norfolk don't come up soon, 
we must be contented to sit in the dark, which I get by 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 183 

lending candles myself. Mr. Carter of Corotamon, had 
two boxes containing better than 5 gross. Mr. Parker 
had some dozen, but these are gentlemen who only think 
of favours when they want them." 

Oil lamps of a primitive kind set in handsome con- 
tainers were not unknown about the time of the Revolu- 
tion. Later, in 1787, Richard Henry Lee wrote his 
cousin in England: "You will very much oblige me by 
getting for me one of the most improved Modern Lamps 
of polished Tin, such as Doctor Franklin brought over 
with him for giving great splendour of light to a Parlour 
where company sit. — If, in order to use this Lamp, any 
explanation is necessary, let such explanation accom- 
pany it." 

No feature of domestic life on the river could have 
been more exciting than the arrival of the English ships 
at the plantation landings bearing all manner of goods 
from the London shops made up from lists carefully 
compiled with measures and samples sent months and 
sometimes a whole year before. For clothing the poor 
depended almost entirely on homespun. The rich 
planter manufactured some cloth and field shoes for 
the slaves, but most of the well-to-do Potomac families 
"Shopped" in London until the Revolution. So many 
members of the conventions and the congress, in New 
York and Philadelphia, went thither from both sides 
of the river that the resources of those towns gradually 
became familiar and supplied finery during and after 
the war. But for the better part of two centuries the 
primitive mail-order system obtained and the "bottoms 
from England" which brought the furniture and fur- 
nishings brought also ribbons and silks and linens and 



184 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

suits and stockings and shoes and bonnets and cocked 
hats and gloves and wigs and swords and jewels, in ad- 
dition to table delicacies, books, toys, tools, and other 
articles in endless variety. 

If the letters of the Maryland planters had been as 
extensively preserved as those of the Virginians it would 
no doubt be possible to cite as quaint and interesting 
instances of Maryland importations as are furnished by 
the invoices and letters across the river. In the absence 
of the former, however, the latter may serve as typical 
of both shores. The Maryland wills indicate the pos- 
session as clearly as the Virginia letters indicate the 
source of similar personal possessions. 

Between 1680 and 1698 William Fitzhugh asked for 
the following, in addition to his plate and other items 
already noted: "a Riding Camblet Coat . . . two 
or three couple of rabbits. ... 3 dozen Gallon 
Stone Juggs and two dozen two Gallon Stone Juggs. 
. . . Dutch nails and tacks. . . . 100 lb. of 
Sundryed Sugar and about 60 or 80 lbs. of powdered 
Sugar. . . . Linnen, of which let gentish holland 
be finest except one piece of Kenting and let there be 
two pieces of white dimity and one piece of coloured 
. . . two suits of child bed linnen, shoes and stock- 
ings. . . . Make me return by the first ship bound 
out of your parts for Potomack River in Virginia with 
bills of lading to be delivered to my landing (viz) in 
Kersey's, Cottons and Bedminsters Cottons, Coarse 
Canvass, Iron ware and shoes, thread and silk, also a 
hundred of Gloucestershire cheese and what else you 
think convenient for this country's use. ... If 
you would send me a Shoemaker or two with their tools 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 185 

and lasts, racks, awles, knives &c with half a hundred 
of shoemakers thread and about twenty or thirty 
gallons train oyle, & sound and proper colouring for 
leather, I have this year set up a Tan house, it would be 
of great advantage and Convenience to me. . . . 
S'r, please after you have sold my Tob°, to say the 
three hh*^' stemmed sweet scented, out of the Produce 
thereof send me two Suits, a winter and Summer Suite, 
ordinary and Decent, the measures you may guess at, 
their shoes, stockings and two Carolina hats of the larg- 
est size in the head, a handsome quantity of fruit & 
spice, the remainder in Nails. . . . Pray by the 
first conveniency of a London ship for this River send 
me in these things following (viz) : 2 quilts, A side saddle, 
A large Silver Salt, A pair women's gallooned shoes, A 
table. Pair of stands. Case Drawers & looking Glass 
Answerable, Two large leather Carpets, Two gall. 
Florence Oyl. . . . Six three quartered lacken book 
frames for pictures well burnished. About 40 or 50 
shillings worth of colours for painting wt pencils." 

There probably was a deal of "guessing at" measure- 
ments in London-sent shoes, hats, and suits. However, 
when Mrs. Lee of Chant illy wanted a new pair of 
shoes, her husband sent one of her old shoes, by the 
ship's Captain who carried the order, "to direct the size 
of the new ones." Washington ordered shoes from 
Didsbury by "Col. Baylors Last," and wrote: "they 
fit me tolerably well except that some of them are 
[if any thing] rather too short" and added "as I imagine 
you will now be able to suit my foot exactly I beg you 
will for the future observe the following Directions in 
making the Shoes. 



186 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"Let the hind Quarters always be high & very short 
so that they may buckle high up on the Instep — the 
Heels middling high also. 

" Never more make any of Dog leather except one pair 
of Pumps in a Cargoe [which let be very neat] unless you 
send better Leather than they were made of before — 
for the two pair of Shoes scarcely lasted me twice as 
many days & had very fair wearing. — If I should find 
occasion to alter at any time these Directions you shall 
be timely advised of it at present please send me — 

2 pair strong shoes. 1 pr. dble. Channel Pumps 

2 p. neat and fine Do. 1 pr. very neat turned 

Ditto" 

His particularity in the above was influenced some- 
what by his youth and his bride. It was written before 
he was thirty and only a few months after he brought his 
wife to Mount Vernon. Two years later he complains 
to Richard Washington, London, of the difficulty in 
getting clothes that fit him: "I have hitherto had my 
clothes made by one Charles Lawrence in Old Fish 
Street. But whether it be the fault of the tailor, or 
the measure sent, I cant say, but, certain it is, my 
clothes have never fitted me. I therefore leave the 
choice of the workman to your care likewise. I enclose 
a measure, and for a further insight, I dont think it 
amiss to add, that my stature is six feet; otherwise 
rather slender than corpulant." 

There were frequent exchanges of presents between 
the planters and the captains of the clipper ships, and in 
addition to the tobacco for market and credit on ac- 
count, the ships from the river took back presents for 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 187 

English relatives and friends. Of course the most 
prized present was tobacco of particularly choice growth 
and cure. Indian trappings and bows and arrows and 
tomahawks gave delight to younger members of the 
English kin. "I thank you S%" wrote William Fitzhugh 
in 1694 to George Mason Merchant in Bristol, "for your 
half dozen of Claret, & should have in gratification re- 
turned you a hamper of cider, but upon examination 
found none worth my sending or your acceptance, for 
want of a Racking at the Spring, the bees having 
pricked it." Richard Henry Lee wrote his brother 
Arthur in London: "Mr. Cox has promised to ship a 
small cask of his best Virginia wine to Dr. Fothergill 
in Capt. Johnstown, and I expect you will get a rattle 
snake by the same opportunity." But the reptile was 
not easily secured for, a year later, he wrote the same 
brother: "I have been constantly on the lookout for a 
rattle snake and am now promised by a gentleman 
above that he will exert himself to get me one against 
Capt. Grieg's ship sails or Walker's at furtherest. Let 
me know if you please if it will be agreeable to Lord 
Shelburne, thet I send him a cask of our finest spirit 
made from the peach. It is so highly flavorous and par- 
takes so much of the fruit, that I really think 'tis much 
preferable to the finest Arrack." And in other letters are 
hints of "three fine Summer ducks for Lady Shelburne, 
which Capt. Blackwell will bring . . . the two 
Drakes being exceedingly beautiful"; "two bottles of 
damask rose water for our sister. . . . The crop of 
roses was small this Spring, which prevented the distilla- 
tion so frequently as we would have chosen"; "a dozen 
bottles of peach brandy are sent. 'Tis of my old stock." 



188 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

When Richard Henry Lee, John Hanson, William 
Grayson, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer were in the 
conventions and in Congress their neighbours and 
relatives on the river seem to have used their shopping 
services freely. One of Lee's purchases in New York 
for his brother William included 300 yards of linen, 
70 lbs. of feathers, bed tick, 3 lbs. of shoe thread, and 
three pounds of strong sewing thread, and another in 
Philadelphia included 24 Windsor chairs, a box of dry 
goods and a "Keg of Tea." This number of chairs 
suggests the hospitable portico parties behind the great 
columns. Washington ordered thirty Windsor chairs 
at one time for his "piazza" at Mount Vernon. 

Stocks of goods came out from England to Alexandria, 
Georgetown, and Annapolis, and these towns long before 
the Revolution supplied modest domestic needs on the 
river. Among others a Captain Stewart sailed regularly 
between Alexandria and Philadelphia or, in the terms 
of the times, "he is stationary Vessel between Alexan- 
dria & Phila." and in the latter city his boat "lays at 
Arch Street Wharf." Where the barons and ladies of 
the Potomac got their head-dresses nearer home may 
be guessed from this old advertisement : 

"Richard Wagstaffe, Peruke and Lady's tate-maker, 
and hair-cutter, will soon settle in Annapolis and follow 
the said business, and will sell his goods at reasonable 
rates. He also intends to teach reading, writing and 
accounts; and will take in youths to board and educate 
at twenty three pounds per year. N. B. He has a few 
perukes ready made which he will dispose of very cheap, 
such as Ramillies, Albermarles, and Bobs, &c." 

However, there was small promise for Wagstaffe's 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 189 

prosperity in the observations of an Englishman trav- 
elHng in tidewater, which appeared in the London Maga- 
zine, July, 1746, unless the fashions changed: '* 'Tis 
an odd sight, that except some of the elevated sort, few 
Persons wear Perukes, so that you would imagine they 
were all sick, or going to bed: Common People wear 
woolen and yarn caps; but the better ones wear White 
Holland or Cotton: Thus they travel fifty Miles from 
Home. It may be cooler, for ought I know; but, me- 
thinks, 'tis very rediculous." 

The day on a river plantation was divided into morn- 
ing, evening, and night. There was practically no after- 
noon. That period was eliminated by the meal hours. 
Breakfast was none too early in the great house and 
it was an abundant meal. Fish, eggs, or meat might 
be on the table, but hot breads had to be there, and in 
variety at the same meal. There were many kinds to 
choose from. There was always a dish of spoon or batter 
bread steaming under its light brown crust. To this 
might be added fried herring roe and a strip of crisp 
bacon, waffles, Sally Lunn, griddle cakes, Maryland 
beaten biscuits which were merely "beaten biscuits" 
on the south side of the river, muffins, corn-bread, hoe- 
cake or pone. The traditional and beloved hoe-cake 
takes its name from the fact that, in pioneer days, and 
even later in the negro cabins, it was "baked on a hoe 
before the fire." Coffee and tea both were served at 
breakfast and, at least in Maryland, it was the custom, 
when one had sufficient of either, to place the spoon 
across the cup to indicate one wanted no more. 

Plates came back and the platters passed about many 
times at breakfast for there was a long interval before 



190 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

dinner. This was not a noon rite as in the North. It 
happened in the middle of the afternoon, centring as a 
rule about the hour of three. It was the great meal 
of the day and when the family rose the sun, especially 
in winter, was low. Hence the period from dinner time 
until the family assembled again for supper about eight 
o'clock or even later was known as "evening," even in 
summer when the light was strong. 

At supper was eaten the best yield of the river, its 
oysters and crabs and clams; and a choice from the 
abundant variety of fish which sported about the land- 
ing "spiles." On the Catholic Maryland shore the 
river's catch blessed the abstemious Fridays. Across, 
in at least one house, Wednesday and Saturday through- 
out the season were fish days: "always plenty of Rock, 
perch, crabs, often Sheeps-Head and Trout," and, it 
goes without saying, shad when in season. 

When the hot dishes had disappeared and the glasses 
had been refilled it was customary in the big house to 
drink toasts after supper; toasts to sweethearts, to ab- 
sent ones, to royal highnesses, and to the smoulder- 
ing Revolution in terms that would echo as treason 
across the sea. Strong drink accented the sentimen- 
tality of some of these toasts and the vehemence of 
others. 

The planters were as a rule hard drinkers from full 
cellars. The day began often with a julep made of rum, 
water, and sugar which sustained the planter in a ride 
around his fields before breakfast, and it was believed 
to be a preventive of malaria. But no other excuse than 
hospitality, or the sustenance it gave the body or the 
cheer it gave to the spirit, was necessary for taking a 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 191 

glass of wine or beer or punch or other hquor at any- 
time of day. 

The foundation of conviviality on the Potomac was 
brought over in the bottom of the Ark. In the Public 
Record Office, London, are entries as of August 23, 1633, 
showing that there was delivered aboard the ship "12 
pipes of canary wine" and more than one thousand and 
five "ton" of beer. And thereafter as long as the clip- 
per ships came into the river "pipes of wine" was a 
familiar entry in the invoices. Persimmon beer, apple 
cider, cherry bounce, peach brandy, corn whiskey, and a 
variety of wines from grapes and berries were made on 
the plantations. The long beans of the honey locust 
were ground and mixed with honey herbs and water 
and fermented which made "excellent good Mathe- 
glin, a pleasant and strong drink." Governor Berkeley 
wrote of brewing and drinking in 1720: "The poorer 
sort brew their own beer with molasses and bran; with 
Indian corn malted with drying in a stove; with per- 
simmons dried in a cake and baked; with potatoes with 
the green stalks of Indian corn cut small and bruised, 
with pompions, with the Jerusalem artichoke which 
some people plant purposely for that use, but this is 
least esteemed." 

Such were some of the features of the domestic life 
within the great houses. Therein was used the product 
of the other houses on the plantation and of the out-of- 
doors. A glance at the organization and production 
outside the great house which fed and clothed the 
family and its slaves carries into another chapter. 



CHAPTER XI 

Domestic Life Outside the "Great House" — Domestic Offices — 
The Shore About the Landing — Old Mills — Fences — Fields 
and Orchards — Labour — Indentured Servants — Sickness, Doc- 
tors, Remedies — Legend for a Sundial. 

THE formality of the colonial mansion reached 
out of doors for only a limited radius. Beyond 
the lawn, the terraces, and the almost architec- 
tural environment of exactly related outbuildings and 
gardens, extended the endless acres of the plantation. 
Those nearer the river were sure to be cleared first. 
They were generally on a lower level and were richer 
in soil. Moreover, the clearing opened to the house 
the cherished view of the long reaches of the water, 
sometimes down a cove, sometimes across to the oppo- 
site shore of the wide river itself, but frequently, too, 
from the elbows at the numerous bends the panorama 
extended both up river and down river as far as the eye 
could carry to soft melting horizons. 

The other or "land" front generally looked out upon 
the driveway which described a circle before the door. 
A sundial rose in the centre of the circle, and the outer 
circumference was edged with oak or chestnut or tulip 
trees, with an occasional larch, pine, or cedar, or perhaps 
a holly flaunting its red berries against its dark waxen- 
green leaves. No matter how far cleared fields spread 
beyond they were inevitably hedged with forests since 
forest was the aboriginal state of the Potomac valley. 

192 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 193 

They stood like walls about a clearing, exclusive and 
protective, with the mansion and its dependent build- 
ings the only habitation in sight. When the planter 
stood before his door he saw only his own land as far as 
he could see, and it gratified his pride for it gave him his 
coveted sense of self-containment and of domain. 

The outbuildings nearer the great house were those 
related to the domestic life therein, actually detached 
rooms of the mansion itself. Nearest of all was the 
kitchen, set apart in order to keep the heat and odour 
of cooking out of the house, but generally it was par- 
tially connected by a covered colonnade through which 
the procession of slaves bore the dishes of food to the 
family dining room. The greater kitchens were bounded 
on one side almost entirely by the open chimney. It 
was tall enough and broad enough for the fat and fagile 
cook to stand in and move about among the cranes, 
spits, pots and pot-hooks, kettles, gridirons, spiders, and 
saucepans of this domestic altar. 

Near by was the wash-house reeking with the humid- 
ity of steaming tubs; the store-house with its rafters 
close hung with chestnut smoked hams, sides of bacon, 
strings of onions and peppers and garlands of strung 
dried fruit; the smoke-house tight and choking. In 
another group on the opposite end of the mansion were 
the school-house, the spinning-house, the shoemaker's 
house, and the carpenter-shop. Tucked away under 
the eaves of these buildings were the sleeping rooms of 
the house-servants, or, in the more pretentious out- 
buildings of the finer houses, the sleeping rooms of the 
boys of the family, of the tutor and of bachelor guests. 

Beyond these buildings so intimately related to the 



194 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

domestic life of the interior of the mansion and, as a rule, 
under the immediate supervision of the mistress thereof, 
stood the coach-house and stables. There was, how- 
ever, one of the little domestic temples which refused to 
be drawn into any arbitrary central plan. That was 
the dairy house. Nature and not art determined its 
position, for it was raised over the nearest spring, under 
the hill as a rule or in the shady depth of a near-by glade. 
The bubbling waters were caught momentarily in a 
shallow reservoir in its cool dark floor and therein stood 
the earthen crocks of butter and cheese and cream-laden 
milk. 

The other buildings rose in independent groups on 
each of the farms into which the plantations were 
divided. Mount Vernon's 8,800 acres, for instance, 
were divided into five farms. On each such division 
would be barns, an overseer's house, and the group of 
cabins of the negro slaves known as the "quarters." 
At the landing on the shore stood the tobacco ware- 
house, or rolling-house. On the Maryland shore these 
warehouses were often built of brick; on the Virginia 
shore of lumber, soon weather worn and gray and tilted 
by the winds, and picturesque. 

Even when there was no ship at the landing there 
was on the shore evidence enough of the intimacy be- 
tween the colonists and the river. Near the landing 
head nearly always an unfinished boat was propped in 
its ways. Stacks of blanched oars leaned against a 
convenient low-branched tree. Tar-barrels hugged 
the bank, and freshly tarred nets, hung with cork on one 
edge and sinkers on the other so that it might ride per- 
pendicular under the water, strung along from root to 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 195 

bush to low-swung branch with occasional support from 
a sapling prop. It was and is no uncommon sight on 
the river shore to see great skeleton spools twenty or 
more feet in diameter on which the larger nets were 
wound. 

The greater planters were not fishermen themselves, 
but they took toll of the water for their food supply, 
and every small farmer was a natural fisherman or 
"giller" in the vernacular of the river. Hook and line 
have played a comparatively small part in Potomac 
fishing. The fish have nearly always been caught in 
trap nets or by the gills in the meshes of the gilling nets. 
Thus the gill has obscured the fish as a root-word in the 
river vocabulary. A fisherman is a giller; to go fishing 
is to go gilling; and the fishing boats are usually called 
gilling skiffs. 

One other important building contributed to the 
domestic economy of the plantations of any size. It 
was found by paddling along shore to a creek, following 
the creek to its tributary branch or run, and thence by 
the meanders of the fresh stream to its location. This 
was the mill. In the low country near the river's mouth, 
however, where there was a minimum of natural gravity, 
the landscape was made picturesque by broad-winged 
windmills after the Dutch fashion. The most primi- 
tive form of milling was to make a mortar by burning 
out a stump of a tree, and a pestle by hanging a log at 
the end of a pole. That this was a hard process is at- 
tested by the will of Thomas Allen, one of the earliest 
settlers in St. Mary's, which provided that if his estate 
were insufficient to support his children and it became 
necessary for them to go out to work, '*they should 



196 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

not be put to the mortar" or made "mortar boys." 
William Fitzhugli found the "toll" of his grist-mill 
"sufficient to find my own family with wheat & Indian 
corn for our necessitys." Washington had a water 
grist-mill on Dogue Run Farm at Mount Vernon, and 
another farther up the river. He made more than 
sufficient flour for his family and slaves and shipped it 
in considerable quantity to England. 

It is curious to observe how little fencing was re- 
quired on the Potomac plantations. Nature was here 
of great assistance. A large percentage of the boundary 
line was shore. Sometimes when the plantation occu- 
pied a neck, as did many on the lower river, and notably 
Gunston and Belvoir in upper tidewater, only a small 
fraction of the land abutted other land and had to be 
fenced off. Each of the two plantations mentioned 
above contained thousands of acres but each had a 
water boundary of several miles and a division fence 
less than a mile long across the head of the peninsula. 

The growing crops were protected from the grazing 
animals by rail or snake fences, but a peninsular estate 
was sometimes fenced uncommon high across its narrow 
head, even with a high barrier of palings, to stay the 
native deer, which were a picturesque and prized feature 
of the plantation. These wild creatures found their 
way out, however, and ranged w^est toward the moun- 
tains just ahead of civilization and there the hunter has 
practically extinguished them. Washington domesti- 
cated the remnant of the herd at Mount Vernon and 
enclosed them on the steep wooded hillside between his 
house and the river where they became a much-remarked 
feature of his estate. 




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Not all plantations had the economical features of 
water boundaries by any means. When they lay with 
one side only to the water, fencing all their extensive 
acres was often an undertaking too formidable economic- 
ally or for the planter's complacent temperament. In 
such cases not only did the deer migrate at once but the 
horses also were allowed a free, wide range and event- 
ually grew quite wild. Hunting the wild horse was one 
of the sports of the colonists, and saddle horses were 
trained to dash through the thick woods at a high rate 
of speed. William Fitzhugh of Bedford, in sending an 
inventory of James Ashton's estate over to London, said 
that it accounted for everything except "his stock of 
horses which are of low value and could not be brought 
together." Occasionally the owner of a peninsula 
would confine horses on his land for a number of 
neighbours. At stated intervals there was a round-up 
and the animals were driven into a pen and the new-born 
colts were branded with the particular marks of the 
owners of the mares which had given them birth. 
Notice of the round-up was given at the parish church 
two weeks in advance "to prevent any secret encroach- 
ments." On the Virginia side the proprietor of the 
Northern Neck maintained an ojfficial ranger, the only 
one in the colony, who seized all unmarked horned cattle 
or other live-stock roaming at large and appropriated 
them in the name of his principal. Giles Brent of Marl- 
boro held such a commission. 

The Potomac settler, with the English tradition of 
ripening fruit against artificially heated walls, found the 
temperate climate of his new home a paradise for fruit. 
He grew every species except those which thrive only in 



198 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the tropics. By the end of the seventeenth century 
there were 2,500 fruit trees on Bedford alone. The 
planter revelled not only in every variety but in many 
species of each. As soon as a new kind of cherry or 
peach or apple or grape or pear was developed, it was 
passed proudly on "with compliments," and there was 
rivalry among the men as to whose cherry made the best 
bounce and whose peach the best brandy, and among 
the women as to the merits of berries as well as other 
fruits for jellies, jams, and preserves. Two "patches" 
furnished at least one touch of planting which made 
the whole river world akin. These patches w^ere found 
in the sandy stretches near the shore and they w^ere 
sacred to the sweet potato and the watermelon. Black- 
berries took an aggressive interest in Potomac valley 
soil and shot forth their tangled brambles in close 
rivalry to the irrepressible honeysuckle. The wild 
native fruit, far excellence, was the persimmon. There 
is more than one Persimmon Point on the river, at men- 
tion of which the lips pucker, for this delicious fruit is 
too often picked out of the parched grass before it has 
been sweetened and mellowed by the autumnal frosts. 
Another kind of picture is presented by Cherry Field 
Point, for some names on the river do etch scenes, even 
Tick Point and its neighbour. Scratch Hill. 

One of the dreams of the colonists was the establish- 
ment of a silk industry. It runs all through the "Re- 
lations," the "present states," the early legislation, and 
the first letters. The net result is an uncommon number 
of mulberry trees; two Maryland estates whose names 
perpetuate the basis of a forlorn hope. Mulberry Grove 
and Mulberry Fields; and the precious souvenirs made 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 199 

from the wood of the Old Mulberry Tree which stood 
for decades on the site of vanished St. Mary's City. 

The development and upkeep of large plantations, 
such as were from the first taken up by the individual 
colonists, was possible only with a large retinue of labour 
of all sorts. This element of the population came at 
first exclusively from England but later from Africa 
also. Before the black slave was brought into the river 
valley by purchase, the English servant was brought in 
by contract or indenture, generally voluntary, which 
bound his entire time and its product to the planter for 
a stated period, usually four years. Curiously the 
Indian, who was so numerous here, seems not to have 
become a servant or to have laboured in any domestic 
capacity. The indentured servant was not always a 
menial. The term included all who came into either 
colony to do labour, skilled or unskilled, for hire. In the 
main they came from the labouring and serving class in 
England; and sometimes vagrants, debtors, and felons 
were involuntarily sent in this way; but it is also true 
that men of wealth brought their relatives in as inden- 
tured servants. 

*'In the taking of servants," advised A Relation of 
Maryland, 1635, for the benefit of the prospective 
colonist, *'he may doe well to furnish himself with as 
many as he can, of useful and necessary Arts: A car- 
penter, of all others the most necessary; A Mill-wright, 
Ship-wright, Boate-wright, Wheele-wright, Brickmaker, 
Brick-layer, Potter: one that can cleve Lath and Pale, 
and make Pipe-staves, etc. A Joyner, Cooper, Turner, 
Sawyer, Smith, Cutler, Leather-dresser, Miller, Fisher- 
man, and Gardiner. These will be of most use; but any 



200 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

lusty young able man, that is willing to labour and take 
paines, although he have no particular trade, will be 
beneficial enough to his Master." There were ill re- 
ports in England of how fared the emigrants, but George 
Alsop, who had himself come to Maryland as an inden- 
tured servant, wrote his father: "The Servants of this 
Province, which are stigmatiz'd for Slaves by the clap- 
permouth jaws of the vulgar in England, live more like 
Freemen then the most Mechanick Apprentices in Lon- 
don, wanting for nothing that is convenient or necessary 
and according to their several capacities, are extraordi- 
nary well used and respected." 

At the expiration of his contract a Maryland "ser- 
vant" was given "one new hat, one new suit of Kersey 
or broadcloth, a white linen shift, a pair of French fall 
shoes, stockings, two hoes, one axe, one gun of twenty 
shillings value, not above four feet in the barrel nor 
under three and a half feet." In addition the contract 
frequently provided that upon its expiration he should 
be given "one whole yeares provision of come, and fifty 
acres of Land, according to the order of the country." 

In Virginia the freed "servant" received at various 
times some or all of the following: a tract of at least 
twenty-five acres, corn for twelve months, a house 
newly erected, a cow for the value of forty shillings, 
armour, implements and tools, and two sets of apparel 
which generally included a suit of Kersey and a suit of 
cotton, a pair of canvas drawers, one canvas and one 
lockram shirt, a felt hat and a gun. 

These early servants were soon transformed into 
landholders, farming or practising their trades as free- 
men. The unskilled field labourers and the house ser- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 201 

vants of the most opulent period were recruited from 
the imported black slaves and their issue. Above them 
was a stratum of white skilled workmen who came out 
from time to time at the request of the planters. The 
available letters furnish many instances of such requests. 
\yilliam Fitzhugh of Bedford wrote Captain Partis: 
"I would have you bring me a good Housewife. I do 
not intend or mean to be brought in as the ordinary ser- 
vants are, but to pay her passage and agree to give her 
fifty shillings or three pounds a year during the space of 
five years, upon which terms I suppose good Servants 
may be had, because they have their passage clear and 
as much wages as they can have there. I would have a 
good one or none : I look upon the generality of wenches 
you usually bring in not worth the keeping." Richard 
Henrv Lee wrote his brother William in London for 
a ship-builder: "You cannot imagine how much I 
am hurt for want of a good Ship Joiner who under- 
stands something of the House Joiners business — I 
therefore entreat that you will not cease trying until 
you furnish me with such a person." At another time 
*'Prav do not forget mv Gardener." 

V CD t/ 

^Yhen Washington first set up at Mount Vernon as a 
married man, for the longest continuous period his 
public life permitted him to stay there, he wrote a friend 
in Philadelphia to procure him, if any ship with servants 
be in port, a joiner, a bricklayer, and a gardener. After 
his return from the Revolutionary campaigns he 
bought off the brig Anna, from Ireland, a shoemaker, 
Thomas Ryan, and a tailor, Cavan Bowen, "Redemp- 
tioners for 3 years service by Indenture." On one 
occasion two of his indentured servants "went off in a 



202 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

small yawl, with turpentine sides and bottom, the 
inside painted with a mixture of tar and red lead," 
whereupon he advertised for them in the Virginia 
Gazette, with lengthy descriptions and an ofiPer of 
twenty dollars for the return of either or forty dollars 
for the return of both of them. 

One of the sons of a great Potomac planter sketched 
the organization of his father's plantation in terms that 
are not only graphic and complete in themselves but 
they apply to most of the river estates of relative size in 
the eighteenth century and, as such, are repeated here: 

"It was very much the practice with gentlemen of 
landed and slave estates . . . so to organize them 
as to have considerable resources within themselves; 
to employ and pay but few tradesmen and to buy little 
or none of the coarse stuffs and material used by them, 
and this practise became stronger and more general 
during the long period of the Revolutionary War which 
in great measure cut off the means of supply from 
elsewhere. Thus my father had among his slaves 
carpenters, coopers, sawyers, blacksmiths, tanners, 
curriers, shoemakers, spinners, weavers and knitters, 
and even a distiller. His woods furnished timber and 
plank for the carpenters and coopers, and charcoal for 
the blacksmith; his cattle killed for his own consump- 
tion and for sale supplied skins for the tanners, curriers 
and shoemakers, and his sheep gave wool and his 
fields produced cotton and flax for the w^eavers and spin- 
ners, and his orchards fruit for the distiller. His 
carpenters and sawyers built and kept in repair all the 
dwelling-houses, barns, stables, ploughs, harrows, gates 
&c., on the plantations and the outhouses at the home 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 203 

house. His coopers made the hogsheads the tobacco 
was prized in and the tight casks to hold the cider and 
other Hquors. The tanners and curriers with the 
proper vats &c., tanned and dressed the skins as well 
for upper as for lower leather to the full amount of the 
consumption of the estate, and the shoemakers made 
them into shoes for the negroes. A professed shoe- 
maker was hired for three or four months in the year to 
come and make up the shoes for the white part of the 
family. The blacksmiths did all the iron work re- 
quired by the establishment, as making and repairing 
ploughs, harrows, teeth chains, &c., &c. The spinners, 
weavers and knitters made all the coarse cloths and 
stockings used by the negroes, and some of finer tex- 
ture worn by the white family, nearly all worn by the 
children of it. The distiller made every fall a good 
deal of apple, peach and persimmon brandy. The art 
of distilling from grain was not then among us, and but 
few public distilleries. All these operations were car- 
ried on at the home house, and their results distributed 
as occasion required to the different plantations. 
Moreover all the beeves and hogs for consumption or 
sale were driven up and slaughtered at the proper 
seasons, and whatever was to be preserved was salted 
and packed away for after distribution. 

"My father kept no steward or clerk about him. He 
kept his own books and superintended, with the assis- 
tance of a trusted slave or two, and occasionally of 
some of his sons, all the operations at or about the 
home house above described; except that during the 
Revolutionary War and when it was necessary to do a 
great deal in that way to clothe all his slaves, he had 



204 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

in his service a white man, a weaver of the finer stuffs, 
to weave himself and superintend the black weavers, 
and a white woman to superintend the negro spinning- 
women. To carry on these operations to the extent 
required, it will be seen that a considerable force was 
necessary, besides the house servants, who for such a 
household, a large family and entertaining a great deal 
of company, must be numerous — and such a force 
was constantly kept there, independently of any of the 
plantations, and besides occasional drafts from them 
of labour for particular occasions." 

It is curious how little evidence there is of consider- 
ation for the health, not only of the slaves and other 
servants, but of the planter and his immediate family. 
Just as there were no bath-rooms in any of the colonial 
houses, and no other hygienic plumbing, so there is 
little evidence of the presence of many available doctors 
or of any other medicine than the "bark" or any other 
therapeutic process than "blood letting." The first 
settlers to some degree availed themselves of the Indian 
remedies and in exchange they performed cures for the 
natives which astonished them and established confi- 
dence and sympathy. 

Thomas Glover, who visited tidewater the middle of 
the seventeenth century and whose observations were 
published in London, reported: "The Indians being 
a rude sort of people use no curiosity in preparing their 
Physick; yet they are not ignorant of the nature and 
uses of their plants, but they use no correctives to take 
away the flatuous, nauseous and other bad qualities 
of them. They either powder, juyce or boil them, till 
the concoction be very strong. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 205 

"Their usual way of cure for most inward distempers 
is by decoction which they make partly pectoral, 
partly sudorifick; these they cause the sick to drink, 
the quantity of half a pint at a time, two or three times 
a day; but they give nothing to procure vomiting in any 
distempers, as a bad omen that the diseased will die; 
neither did I ever know them to use any waies of 
Blooding or Cupping. 

"If they have any Wounds, Ulcers or Fractures, 
they have the knowledge of curing them. I did once 
see an Indian whose arm had been broken, and viewing 
the place, I found the bones to be so smoothly consoli- 
dated, and as well reduced, as any English Chirurgion 
could have done it. 

"All Indians carry a Powder about them to cure the 
bites of Snakes, and in almost every Town this powder 
hath a different composition, and every composition 
is certainly effectual to the correcting the malignity of 
the Venom. Neither is it ever known to us, that any 
Indian suffered much harm by these bites, but in a 
daies time he would be as well as if he had never been 
bitten: WTiereas some of the English for want of a 
speedy remedy have lost their lives." 

As the Indian receded and the whites possessed 
the river some doctors came in, but plantation life scat- 
tered the population to such an extent, and land and 
water travel was so slow, that the few country doctors 
were not readily available. Remedies were generally 
homely. Prescriptions passed like cooking recipes. 
Sometimes they cured. Alsop, always optimistic and 
incorrigibly Elizabethan, gives evidence of that in a 
grateful letter to his cousin Ellinor Evins : 



206 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"The Antimonial Cup (Dear Cosen) you sent me, I 
had; and as soon as I received it, I went to work with 
the Infirmities and Diseases of my body. At the first 
draught, it made such havock among the several hum- 
ours that had stolen into my body, that like a Conjurer 
in a room among a company of little Devils, they no 
sooner hear him begin to speak high words, but away 
they pack, and happy is he that can get out first, some 
up the Chimney, and the rest down stairs, till they 
are all disperst. So these malignant humours of my 
body, feeling the operative power, and medicinal 
virtue of this Cup, were so amazed at their sudden sur- 
prizal, (being alwayes before battered only by the weak 
assaults of some few Emporicks) they stood not long 
to dispute, but with joynt consent made their retreat. 
. . . Cosen, For this great kindness of yours, in 
sending me this medicinal vertue, I return you my 
thanks: It came in a very good time, when I was 
dangerously sick, and by the assistance of God it hath 
perfectly restored me." 

Under the primitive conditions the planter and his 
lady became physician and nurse in a homely sense, 
some even made a serious study of cures, and it must 
be believed that, in a large percentage of cases, they 
provided all the medical attention that family or ser- 
vants received. They made up for the absence of a 
physician in the flesh by an old black letter "Family 
Physician," of that or some other name, dressed in calf- 
skin and full of specifics for every ill. With these mea- 
gre resources they ministered to their own family and 
to their own "people," as the slaves were called, when- 
ever they complained, which in the case of the blacks 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 207 

was pretty nearly all the time, for the day was not 
known when a darky would not admit to feeling 
*'porely" or to a misery in some portion of his gnarled 
anatomy. It is small wonder that the dim dates on 
the headstones in the old family burying grounds tell a 
tragic story of high mortality among the young and 
few instances of old age as it is known to-day. The 
scriptural threescore years and ten was rare indeed. 

On one occasion the yellow fever reached the river, it 
was in 1774, and Fithian noted: "There is a report 
that the Jail-Fever, or Yellow or putrid Fever, is at one 
Mr. Atwel's on Potowmack, in this Country; that it was 
brought in a Ship which came lately with convict 
Servants; that two have already died, one this morning; 
& that many of Mr. Atwels Slaves are infected." 
This was a unique instance. Decidedly more chronic, 
though appropriated usually by the gentlemen of the 
family, was the much handsomer addiction to gout. 

An ailment which was indiscriminate in its attack was 
the inflammation produced by the democratic seed- or 
wood-tick which flourished, then as now, in rank 
meadow grass or in forest deadwood. Fanny Carter 
of Nomini Hall, according to her teacher's diary, was 
"very much troubled with the festered Bites of Seed 
Ticks," which next day produced a "fit," and on the 
third day "confined her in her chamber" and covered 
her "like a distinct Small Pox." That day at dinner 
"the conversation at Table was on the Disorders which 
seem to be growing epidemical. Fevers, Agues, Fluxes. 
A gloomy train! Fearing these," continues the diarist, 
"I keep myself at home; make my diet sparing & 
uniform; Use constant moderate Exercise; Drink as 



:^08 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

little Wine as possible, & when I must drink Toasts 
I never fail to dilute them well with Water; I omit 
almost every kind of fruit." There is an epigram, 
heard on the river, "Picnic all day, pick ticks all night." 
And when called on for a proper legend for a sun-dial, 
Vaughan Kester, then living and writing at Gunston 
Hall, offered "Every Second a Tick." 




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CHAPTER XII 

Education on the Potomac — "The Athens of Virginia" — Field 
Schools — Tutors — Fithian's Routine in a Plantation School- 
room — Christian's Dancing Classes — The Colonial Girl's 
Accomplishments — Potomac Boys Sent to English Universities 
— Libraries in the Mansions — Lending Libraries — Printing 
and the Periodical Press. 

SAILING along from landing to landing, and 
browsing about from one source of information 
to another, one is struck by the extraordinary 
number of finely educated men among the colonials on 
the river, and by the dense ignorance in the immediate 
background. Though the evidence of education is 
found almost exclusively among the owners of large 
plantations, not by any means were all the rich plant- 
ers educated. There are numerous old wills in which 
acres by the thousand were passed and the testator, 
his finger resting lightly on the quill in the hand of 
another, signed with "his mark." As already amply 
witnessed by literally reproduced quotations it was an 
age of lawless spelling. So it is less surprising than it 
is amusing to find one testator appointed his loving 
wife to be his "hole and soul executor." 

When in the eighteenth century Westmoreland was 
referred to as "the Athens of Virginia," it richly de- 
served the compliment. But in its profusion of 
cultured men this county was representative of other 
neighbourhoods on both sides of tidewater Potomac. 

209 



210 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Consider the river's contribution to the Continental 
Congresses alone. Of Maryland's delegates eight 
(Daniel Carroll, Benjamin Contee, Uriah Forrest, 
John Hanson, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Thomas 
Sims Lee, Gustavus Scott, and Thomas Stone) and of 
Virginia's delegates eleven (William Fitzhugh, William 
Grayson, Joseph Jones, Arthur Lee, Francis Lightfoot 
Lee, Henry Lee, Richard Henry Lee, James Mercer, 
John F. Mercer, James Monroe, and George Washington) 
were born or lived on the Potomac. John Hanson of 
Mulberry Grove and Richard Henry Lee of Chantilly 
were "President of the United States in Congress'* 
when the United States had no other President. 

Some of the planters were university men. More 
of them studied at home under tutors. Others owed 
their development rather to association than to direct 
tutelage, but all of them came naturally under the 
influence of such books and periodicals as were avail- 
able in the great houses. 

In the earliest days there was little organized educa- 
tion. One commentator on colonial education in 
Maryland said it was "little better than a tramp," 
and that "the schoolmasters were mainly derived from 
the class of redemptioners and convict servants, for 
the most part a disreputable lot of the hedge-priest 
sort who had more of Latin and Greek than of the 
humanities or the Ten Commandments." It is prob- 
able that the public schools did not thrive on the 
Maryland shore in those days because the population 
was principally Catholic and that church has always 
thrown its influence and support to the parochial 
school which was much in evidence in this province. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 211 

Not until after the capital of Maryland was moved 
from the Potomac to the mouth of the Severn were any 
steps taken for the organization of a public school 
system. Out of a straggling, century-long effort there 
emerged just before the Revolution one excellent 
academy, Charlotte Hall, a few miles from the Potomac 
at the Healing Springs in Charles County. Here, 
since its establishment, many a young man from the 
waterside plantations has found the opportunity for 
a good elementary education. In 1795 the Jesuits 
opened Georgetown University on the heights at the 
head of tidewater, and in a century and a quarter 
it has grown to include neary every branch of educa- 
tion. Without disparagement to this and the several 
other fine universities in the national capital, an historic 
sentiment attaches to the St. Mary's Seminary which 
the state of Maryland endowed to commemorate the 
spot where "civilization and Christianity were first 
introduced into our state" and erected on the site of 
the first colonial capital on St. Mary's River. 

Governor William Berkeley of Virginia thanked God 
in 1671 that there were no free schools in his colony. 
Efforts were undoubtedly made to do something for 
the poorer children. It is not surprising to find 
"Mr. Lee" of Northumberland behind such an effort 
in 1652, with the approval of the county court. But 
by far the quaintest evidence of the early efforts to 
endow learning to be found in the old records is that 
of John Farneffold, of St. Stephen's Parish in the north 
end of the same county, who, in 1702, bequeathed 
"100 acres where I now live for the maintainance of 
a free school to be called Winchester Schoole for fower 



21^2 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

or five poore children belonging to ye parish and to be 
taught gratis & to have their dyett lodging & washing 
& when they can read the Bible & write a legible hand 
to dismiss them & take in more, such as my exors. 
shall think fitt, and for the benefitt of the said school I 
give five cows and a Bull, six ewes, and a ram, a cart- 
horse & cart and two breeding sowes, & that my two 
mulatto girles Frances and Lucy Murrey have a yeares 
schooling & be free when they arrive at the age of 22 
years to whom I give a sow shoat to each, & for further 
encouragement of a schoolmaster, I give dyett, lodg- 
ing & washing & 500 pounds of tobacco and a horse, 
Bridle & Saddle to ride on during his stay." 

Public education on this shore depended on the 
occasional willing clergyman and the infrequent "field 
school" to bridge the many decades until Alexan- 
dria developed its Academy shortly after the Revolu- 
tion and the early days of the new century saw the 
Episcopal Theological Seminary and the Episcopal 
High School rise west of the same city on the heights 
overlooking the river through the valley of Great 
Hunting Creek. 

In the absence of any local schools of importance the 
richer river planters put the education of their children 
in the hands of tutors. These men were sent out 
from England or Scotland, some were young minis- 
ters in orders, others indentured servants, or they 
came from one of the northern colonies. If the family 
was small the tutor often supplemented his work in 
the schoolroom by keeping accounts for the planter or 
by acting as his secretary. 

One of the first instances of a tutor coming to the 




Councillor Robert Carter of Nomixi Hall 

On the Potomac-, Westmoreland ("oimty, A'iroinia. This portrait, from the 
collection of the late Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst, is attrihuletl to Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds. The young American, at the time on a visit to England, is represented 
as costumed for a fancv dress hall with a mask in his hand. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 213 

river is found in a letter from Nicholas Haywood, a 
London grocer, to Nathaniel Pope, in 1652: *'Sr I 
have sent you in Mr Butlers a young man the which I 
would desire you to take into your house & let him 
have meate & drinke and lodging & to imploy him in 
the best imploym* you shall see him capable of I con- 
seave that he will be fitt to teach yo' children for he 
can write a very good hand sifer very well & is able to 
keepe yo' acct" if you conseave it meete." Further 
light is thrown on the employments of the tutor by 
the will, in 1660, of John Carter, the immigrant, an- 
cestor of the Councillor, of Nomini Hall: "My son 
Robert, in his minority, is to be well educated for the 
use of his estate, and he is to have a man or youth ser- 
vant bought for him that has been brought up in the 
Latin School, and that he (the servant) shall constantly 
tend upon him, not only to teach him his books, either in 
English or Latin, according to his capacity (for my will 
is that he shall learn both Latin and English and to write) 
and also to preserve him from harm and doing evil." 

Latin was more commonly taught than any other 
language except English, but William Fitzhugh of 
Bedford was on the point of sending his son to school 
in England when he found a French minister, "a 
sober, learned & discreet Gentleman, whom I per- 
suaded to board and tutor him, which he hath under- 
taken, in whose family there is nothing but French 
spoken which by a continual converse, will make him 
perfect in that tongue & he takes a great deal of pains 
& care to teach him Latin, both of which go on hitherto 
very well together." This lad was the future builder 
of Eagle's Nest. 



214 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Upper Westmoreland had an interesting character 
in one Reverend Archibald Campbell of Campbellton, 
already referred to, who also taught school there in 
the middle of the eighteenth century. Archibald 
and his brother Alexander came out from Scotland 
together. The latter settled as a merchant in Fal- 
mouth. Archibald settled, as a clergyman and teacher, 
in Westmoreland. When the Revolution approached 
he cast his lot with his patriot neighbours. Alexander 
remained a loyalist and returned to Scotland. A few 
years after his return home, in 1777, his youngest son 
was born. This was Thomas Campbell the celebrated 
poet. A brother of the poet came to the tidewater 
country later and married a daughter of Patrick Henry. 
The neighbouring family of Colonel Monroe, which 
included the future president, was taught in 1750 by 
another Scotsman, the Reverend William Douglas. 

When Mrs. Washington's grandchildren, Nellie 
Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, came to 
Mount Vernon to live, General Washington engaged 
a resident tutor for them. The first to come was 
Gideon Snow, and he was followed by Tobias Lear. 
They both coupled their duties as tutor with those 
of secretary to the General, who expressed himself with 
particularity in regard to the status of a tutor in his 
family. "He will sit at my table," he wrote, "live as I 
live, will mix with the company who resort to my 
house, and will be treated in every respect with civility 
and proper attention. He will have his washing done 
in the family, and may have his linen and stockings 
mended by maids in it." One of the little brick 
octagon houses in the angle of the old brick wall about 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 215 

the flower garden at Mount Vernon is pointed out as 
the school-house where Washington's adopted children 
said their lessons. 

About the same time an Englishman by the name of 
John Davis was travelling in America and becoming 
*' financially embarassed" in Alexandria, he advertised 
himself as a teacher, and was employed by a Quaker 
named Ellicott at Occoquon. *'Our agreement was 
soon made," wrote Davis. "Quakers are men of few 
words. Friend Ellicott engaged me to educate his 
children for a quarter of a year. He wanted them 
taught reading, writing and arithmetic. Delightful 
task! As to Latin, or French, he considered the study 
of either language an abuse of time; and very calmly 
desired me not to say another word about it." Davis 
wrote a book about his American travels, with much to 
say about the Potomac neighbourhood. 

He had been but three months at Occoquon when he 
found life boring him and his wandering foot began to 
"itch him." He resigned his place "to an old drunken 
Irishman of the name of Burbridge, who was travelling 
the country on foot in search of an Academy; and 
whom Friend Ellicott made no scruple to engage, 
though, when the fellow addressed him, he was so drunk 
he could with difficulty stand on his legs." To Davis's 
remonstrance on the score of this man's bibulous 
character, the Quaker replied: "Friend, of all the 
schoolmasters I have ever employed, none taught my 
children to write so good a hand, as a man who was 
constantly in a state that bordered on intoxication. 
They learned more of him in one month, than of any 
other in a quarter. I will make trial of Burbridge." 



216 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

By far the most intimate and entertaining view of 
tutoring on the colonial plantation, however, is pre- 
served in the diary of Philip Vickers Fithian, the Prince- 
ton graduate who came to Nomini HkW in 1773. It 
is a mine of information about domestic and social 
life on the Potomac at that time, but in this place 
interest must be restricted to his extensive references 
to the commonplaces of the tutor's and his pupils' rou- 
tine. 

Councillor Carter in seeking for a teacher for his 
children wrote to the president of "the Jersey 
College," as Princeton was known in Virginia, his offer 
of sixty pounds a year, "the best accomodations, a 
room to study in and the advantage of a library, a 
horse kept and a servant to wait on you." When the 
offer was passed to Fithian he accepted, made his way 
south to Nomini Hall on horseback, and took up his 
task. The following quotations are taken at random 
from his diary : 

"We began School — The School consists of eight — 
Two of M'. Carters Sons — One Nephew — And five 
daughters — The eldest Son is reading Sallust : Gramat- 
ical Exercises, and latin Grammer — The second Son is 
reading English Grammar & Reading English: 
The Nephew is Reading and Writing as above: and 
Ciphering in Reduction — The eldest daughter is read- 
ing the Spectator; writing & beginning to Cypher — 
The second is reading next out of the Spelling-Book — 
the fourth is Spelling in the beginning of the Spelling- 
Book — And the last is beginning her letters. 

"I dismissed the children this morning til monday 
on account of M'. Christian's Dance, which as it goes 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 217 

through his Scholars in Rotation happens to be here 
today. 

"Busy in School — The eldest Daughter taken off by 
her teacher in Music : M'. Stadley who is learning her 
to play the Forte-piano. 

"Rose by Seven — Ben begun his Greek Grammer 
— Three in the afternoon M". Carter returned from 
Williamsburg. He seems to be agreeable, discreet 

and sensible He informed me more particularly 

concerning his desire as to the Instruction of his 
Children. 

"Catechised the children and dismissed them about 
Eleven. 

"Busy in School — M'. Lee gave us his Company in 
the morning in School, and was very chearful. 

"All our Scholars present — M'. Carter has put into 
my hands; Tyro's Dictionary, and the pronouncing 
Dictionary, to improve his sons in Grammar class- 
ically, both Latin and English, and he has given me 
Fenning in Arithmatic. 

"Busy in School — I was solicited the other Day at 
the Race by one M'. Gorden, to take and instruct two 
of his Sons; Saturday also I was again solicited by 
M^ Fantleroy to take two of his Sons — But I must 
decline it. 

"Busy in School — The weather vastly fine! . . . 
From the Window, by which I write, I have a broad, a 
diversified, and an exceedingly beautiful Prospect of 
the high craggy Banks of the River Nominy! Some 
of these huge Hills are cover'd thick with Cedar & Pine 
shrubs; a vast quantity of which seems to be in almost 
every part of this Province — Others are naked, & when 



218 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

the Sun Shines look beautiful! At the Distance of 
about 5 Miles is the River Potowmack over which I 
can see the smoky Woods of Maryland ; at this Window 
I often stand, and cast my Eyes homeward with peculiar 
pleasure! Between my window and the potowmack, 
is Nominy Church, it stands alone on the bank of the 
River Nominy, in a pleasant agreeable place. M'. 
Carter's family go down often, so many as can with con- 
venience in a Boat rowed by four Men, and generally 
arrive as soon as those who ride. 

*'The River Potowmack opposite to us the People 
say is 10 miles over, but I think it is not more than 8. 
Afternoon Captain Grigg, who arrived last Sunday 
morning into the River Ucomico from London visited 
M'. Carter. 

"Busy in School . . . Today Dined with us 
M". Turberville, & her Daughter Miss Letty, Miss 
Jenny Corbin, & M'. Blain. We dined at three. The 
manner here is different from our way of living in 
Cohansie — In the morning as soon as it is light a Boy 
knocks at my Door to make a fire; after the Fire is 
kindled, I rise which now in the winter is commonly 
by Seven, or a little after. By the time T am drest 
the Children commonly enter the School-Room which 
is under the Room I sleep in; I hear them round one 
lesson, when the Bell rings for eight o-clock (for M'. 
Carter has a large good Bell of upwards of 60 Lb. 
which may be heard some miles, and this is always 
rung at meal Times;) the children then go out; and at 
half past eight the Bell rings for Breakfast; we then 
repair to the Dining-Room; after Breakfast, which is 
generally about half after nine, we go into School, 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 219 

and sit til twelve, when the Bell rings, & then go out 
for noon; the dinner-Bell rings commonly about half 
past two, often at three, but never before two — 
After dinner is over, which in common, when we have 
no Company, is about half after three we go into 
School, and sit till the Bell rings at five, when they 
seperate til the next morning; I have to myself in the 
Evening, a neat Chamber, a large Fire, Books, & 
Candle and my Liberty, either to continue in the School- 
room, in my own Room, or to sit over at the great 

House with M^ & M". Carter We go into 

Supper commonly about half past eight or at nine & 
I usually go to Bed between ten and Eleven. 

"We had in School today Miss Betsy, and Miss 
Matilda Lee [of Stratford, known as the 'Divine 
Matilda.' She became the wife of General *Xight- 
Horse Harry" Lee.] M'. Carter gave me for his 
Daughter Nancy to Read, the 'Compleat Letter- 
writer' — also he put into my hands for the use of the 
School, 'the British-Grammar.' 

"I read Pictete, The Spectator, Sallust, History 
of England, English Grammar, Arithmetic and the 
Magazines by turns. 

"Bob, every day at twelve o-Clock, is down by the 
River Side with his Gun after Ducks, Gulls, etc. — 
Ben is on his Horse a Riding, Harry is either in the 
Kitchen, or at the Blacksmiths, or Carpenters Shop. 
They all find places of Rendezvous as soon as the Bell 
rings, and all seem to choose different Spots! 

"Rose at Seven. . . . Bob & Nancy before 
Breakfast had a quarrel — Bob called Nancy a Lyar; 
Nancy upbraided Bob, on the other Hand, with being 



220 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

often flog'd by their Papa; often by the Master in 
College; that he had stol'n Rum, & had got drunk; & 
that he used to run away &c — These Reproaches when 
they were set off with Miss Nancys truely feminine 
address, so violently exasperated Bob that he struck 
her in his Rage — I was at the time in my Chamber; 
when I enter'd the Room each began with loud and 
heavy complaints, I put them off however with sharp 
admonitions for better Behaviour. The morning was 
so extremely stormy that I declin'd going to Breakfast 
— All the others went, my Breakfast was sent over — 
Immediately after Breakfast Ben came over with a 
Message from M'. Carter, that he desired me to cor- 
rect Boh severely immediately — Boh when I went into 
School set quiet in the corner, & looked sullen, and 
patient; I gave some orders to the Children and went to 
my Room, — I sent for Bob — He came crying — I told 
him his Father's Message; he confess'd himself guilty — 
I sent him to call up Harry — He came — I talked with 
them both a long Time recommended Diligence & good 
Behaviour, but concluded by observing that I was 
obliged to comply with M'. Carters request; I sent 
Harry therefore for some Whips — Boh and poor I 
remained trembling in the chamber (for Bob was not 
more uneasy than I it being the first attempt of the kind 
I have ever made — The Whips came! — I ordered Bob 
to strip ! — He desired me to whip Him in his hand in 
Tears — I told him no — He then patiently & with great 
deliberation took off his Coat and laid it by — I took 
him by the hand and gave him four or five smart twigs; 
he cring'd, & bawld & promis'd — I repeated them 
about eight more, & demanded and got immediately 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 221 

his solemn promise for peace among the children, & 
Good Behaviour in general — I then sent him down — He 
conducts himself through this day with great Humility, 
& unusual diligence, it will be fine if it continues. 

*'This morning I put Ben to construe some Greek, 
he has yet no Testament, I gave him therefore Esops 
Fables in Greek, and Latin. . . . Ben seem'd 
scared with his Greek Lesson, he swore, & wished for 
Homer that he might kick Him, as he had been told 
Homer invented Greek. 

"In the evening I ran a Foot Race with Ben & 
Harry for Exercise, & a prize of ten Apples to the 
winner. We ran from the School-House round the 
stable, & Kitchen & Great House which distance is 

about 70 Rod 1 came out first about One Rod; 

but almost wholly spent. ... At Supper from 
the conversation I learned that the slaves in this Colony 
never are married, their Lords thinking them improper 
Subjects for so valuiable an Institution. 

*'This Evening the negroes collected themselves into 
the School-Room, & began to play the Fiddle, & dance 
— I went among them, Ben, & Harry were of the com- 
pany — Harry was dancing with his Coat oflF — I dis- 
persed them however, immediately. 

** Before Breakfast Nancy & Fanny had a Fight about 
a Shoe Brush which they both wanted — Fanny puU'd 
off her Shoe & threw at Nancy, which missed her and 
broke a pane of glass of our School-Room, they then 
entered upon close scratching &c. which methods seem 
instinctive in women. ... I made peace, but 
with many threats. 

"I spent the evening with the Family to hear the 



222 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

music, For every evening Prissy & Nancy play the 
whole Evening for practice & besides every Week half 
a Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. 

"After having dismissed the School I went over 
to M'. Carters Study — We conversed on many things, 
& at length on the College of William &; Mary at 
Williamsburg. He informed me that it is in such 
confusion at present, and so badly directed, that he 
cannot send his children with propriety there for Im- 
provment and useful Education — That he has known 
the Professors to play all Night at Cards, and has 
often seen them drunken in the Street! — That the 
Charter of the College is vastly Extensive, and the 
yearly income sufficient to support a University being 
about 4000£ Sterhng. 

"At dinner we were conversing on Reading, among 
many remarks the Colonel observed that. He would bet 
a Guinea that M". Carter reads more than the Parson 
of the parish! No panegyrick on the Gentleman? 

"Ben, to Day, began Virgils Georgics — And Prissy 
began Division. 

"I informed the Colonel that I do not think it will 
be convenient for me to continue with him longer than 
one year. ... he honours me, by putting in me 
so much confidence as to commission me to find out 
and recommend to Him some young Gentleman to 
succeed me in the Instruction of his Children. . . . 
He informed me that he does indeed prefer a Tutor 
for his Children who has been educated upon the Con- 
tinent, not on the supposition that such are better 
Scholars, or that they are of better principles, or of 
much more agreeable Tempers; but only on account of 



POTOINIAC LANDINGS 223 

pronunciation in the English Language. . . in which 
he allows young Gentlemen educated in good Schools 
on the Continent, to excel the Scotch young Gentle- 
men, & indeed most of the English. 

"I corrected Harry this morning for telling me a Lie 
— Stomachful and sullen as any youth. 

"Ben gave Bob for some impudent Language a drub- 
bing this morning. 

*'At twelve Bob teas'd me for leave to go to a Cock- 
Fight & Horse-Race about two miles off, I gave him 
leave with his promiseing to be home by Sun Set. 

"I met this morning in Wingates Arithmetic, with 
the following merry Problem * To discover a Num- 
ber which anyone shall have in his mind, without re- 
quiring him to reveal any part of that or any number 

whatsoever* After anyone has thought upon any 

number at Pleasure; bid him double it, & to that 
double bid him add any such even number as you please 
to assign: Then from the Sum of that Addition let 
him reject one half, & reserve the other half; lastly, from 
this half bid him subtract the Number which he first 
thought upon; then you may bodily tell him what 
Number remains in his mind after that Subtraction is 
made, for it will be always half the Number which you 

assigned him to add A Reason for the Rule is 

added. Because, if to the double of any number 
(which number for Distinction sake I call the first) a 
second number be added, the half of the Sum must 
necessarily consist of the said first number, & half the 
Second: Therefore, if from the said half sum the first 
Number be subtracted, the remainder must of neces- 
sity be half the second Number which was added 



224 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"You are a mean Puppy, a treacherous ungenerous 
Scoundrel, says Bob, to Harry just as I entered the 
School after Dinner — you told M'. Lowe, you did 
more, you published in M'. Washington's Family that 

M'. Fithian horsed me for Staying out all night 

That he call'd in John the Waiter to help him 

& that you was sent to cut & bring in AVhips 

"Before Breakfast I heard all the School a lesson 
round M', Peck present." John Peck, Princeton, 1774, 
succeeded Fithian as Tutor at Nomini Hall and after- 
wards married Ann Tasker Carter, the "Nancy" of the 
diary. 

"I rose by three & left Home by half past four." 
This was October 20, 1774, a year to a day from the 
morning he set out on horseback from his New Jersey 
home. 

Fithian gives us informing glimpses of two other 
teachers who periodically visited the great houses on 
the Potomac. These were Mr. Stadler, the music 
master, and Mr. Christian, the dancing master. They 
each came once a month and remained two days. 
Christian's rounds included such distant houses as 
Mount Vernon. Fithian's references to these visits 
give a quaint picture: November 4, "Today the two 
eldest daughters and the second Son attended the 
Dancing School." Friday, December 17: "I dis- 
missed the children this morning til Monday on account 
of M'. Christian's Dance. . . . Ben Carter before 
Noon introduced into my Room, M'. Billy Booth, a 
young Gentleman of Fortune, who is one of M'. Chris- 
tian's pupils The two Master Fantleroys came 

also to see me There came to the dance three 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 225 

Chariots, two Chairs, & a number of Horses." De- 
cember 18: "After Breakfast, we all retired into the 
Dancing-Room, & after the Scholars had their lesson 
singly round M'. Christian, very politely, requested me 
to step a Minuet: I excused my self, however, but 
signified my peculiar pleasure in the accuracy of their 

performance There were several Minuets danced 

with great ease and propriety; after which the whole 
company joined in country-dances, and it was indeed 
beautiful to admiration, to see such a number of young 
persons, set off by dress to the best advantage, moving 
easily, to the sound of well performed Music, and with 
perfect regularity, tho' apparently in the utmost dis- 
order The Dance continued til two, we dined at 

half after three — soon after Dinner we repaired to the 
Dancing-Room again; I observe in the course of the 
lessons, that M^ Christian is punctual, and rigid in his 
discipline, so strict indeed that he struck two of the 
young Misses for a fault in the course of their perfor- 
mance, even in the presence of the Mother of one of 
them! And he rebuked one of the young Fellows so 
.highly as to tell him that he must alter his manner, 
which he had observed through the Course of the Dance, 
to be insolent, and wanton, or absent himself from the 

School I thought this a sharp reproof to a young 

Gentleman of seventeen, before a large number of 

Ladies! When it grew too dark to dance, the young 

Gentlemen walked over to my Room, we conversed til 
half after six; Nothing is now to be heard of in conver- 
sation, but the Balls, the Fox-hunts, and fine enter- 
tainments, and the good-fellowship, which are to be 
exhibited at the approaching CHRISTMAS." 



226 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

When the class met at Pecatone, Bushfield, Chantilly, 
or Stratford, the young people of Nomini Hall packed 
off in similar fashion to join their friends and cousins 
from the other great houses. On June 24 Fithian 
noted : ' ' Today in course M'. Christians Dance happens 

here He came before Breakfast — Miss Jenny 

Washington came also, & Miss Priscilla Hale while we 
were at Breakfast — Miss Washington . . . has but 
lately had opportunity of Instruction in Dancing, yet 
she moves with propriety when she dances a Minuet 
& without any Flirts or vulgar Capers when she dances 
a Reel or Country Dance . . . the Company danced 
after candle-light a Minuet round. Three Country 
Dances, several Reels, when we were rung to Supper 
after Supper we set til twelve drinking loyal Toasts." 

A colonial girl's education went no farther than the 
field school or than the private tutor could carry her. 
During this period her training was slightly more inten- 
sive than her brother's, for in addition to her academic 
studies she was obliged to acquire ** accomplishments," 
which meant music and embroidery at least, and to these 
she somehow added an acquaintance with domestic 
values and methods which fitted her to be a good house- 
keeper. Moreover, a girl married at an earlier age than 
her brother or than girls of a century later. At the age 
then that her brother left home for the university, a girl 
would leave home also, but as a bride to become the 
mistress of a home of her own. 

The first neighbouring university available for the 
sons of the Potomac planters was William and Mary 
College at Williamsburg. For its support the inhabi- 
tants of Maryland as well as Virginia were taxed a penny 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 227 

per hogshead on all tobacco exported to England. 
Hence youths from both sides of the Potomac were 
among the early students at the Virginia college. Al- 
though founded in the last decade of the seventeenth 
century, it did not rise above the importance of a 
grammar school for some years. Harvard, to be sure, 
dated from about 1638, but until the Revolution drew 
Massachusetts and the Potomac colonies into a com- 
mon interest. New England was more remote to the 
southern colonies than old England itself. Virginia and 
Maryland were bound directly to the old country 
by ties of consanguinity, tradition, trade, and patriotic 
loyalty. When the Revolution made it inexpedient as 
well as unpatriotic for Americans to attend the Eng- 
lish universities, the young men of the Potomac dis- 
covered the advantages of "the Jersey College" at 
Princeton and of Columbia College in the City of New 
York. 

Until that time, however, the education of the rich 
Potomac planters' sons was generally completed in 
English colleges if in any. The ships carried the boys 
from their fathers' own landings in the river direct to 
England. Expenses there were checked against the 
planters' tobacco credits in London or Bristol. It was, 
indeed, deemed not more expensive to send a boy to 
England to complete his schooling than to send him to 
an American university. Richard Henry Lee wrote in 
1772 from Chantilly to his brother in England, on send- 
ing his boys thither for university training: "Great 
reflection, aided by observation, and my own experience, 
sufficiently convince me, that education is much cheaper 
obtained in England, than in any part of America, our 



228 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

College excepted. But there, so little attention is paid 
either to the learning, or the morals of the boys that I 
never could bring myself to think of William and Mary." 

His neighbour, Landon Carter of Sabine Hall, seemed, 
however, to set no high value on the effects of English 
training, for two years before the above he noted in 
his diary: "I believe everybody begins to laugh at 
English education; the general importers of it nowa- 
days bring back only a stiff prigishness with as little 
good manners as possible, especially when the particular 
cut of a waistcoat, the multi oval trim of a hat or the 
cap of a buckle does not attract great admiration, but 
if they do, then the tongue becomes extremely mul- 
tiloquous upon the learning of the foppishness of the 
fancy." 

A list of the young men from the Potomac who 
matriculated abroad need not be inaccurate but it is 
necessarily incomplete. The number includes more 
from Virginia than from Maryland because the attrac- 
tion of the English colleges was stronger to thoroughly 
Protestant Virginia than to partly Catholic Maryland. 
From the latter colony John Hanson and William Small- 
wood of Charles County attended English schools, but 
it is quite natural to discover Edward Brent of Wood- 
stock, son of a prominent Catholic family, descended 
of Maryland immigrants, matriculated at Douay in 
Flanders. 

Nor is it surprising to find the Lees among the first 
to send their boys to the English schools. John Lee, 
whose home after his return from England at least 
was on the Potomac, was educated at Oxford where he 
entered Queen's College .is a commoner in 1658 and 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 229 

graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 16G2. There is at 
present at that university a silver cup presented by this 
Potomac student to his alma mater the year of his 
matriculation. It bears the arms of the college and of 
the Lees of Langley and Coton with a Bishop's mitre 
and pastoral staff on one side and a book and compass 
on the other side of the following inscription : 

COLL. REGI. OXON. 

D. D. Johanis Lee Natus in Chipohowasick 
Wickacomoco in Virginia America Filius 
Primogenitus Richardi Lee Chiliarchae 
Oriundi de Morton Regis in Argo Salopiensi 

1658 

This was the Lee who joined Gerrard, Allerton, and 
Corbin in building the banqueting hall at the con- 
tiguous corners of their lands. His brother Richard, 
of Mount Pleasant, was also an Oxonian. This 
Richard's fifth son, Thomas, was the builder of Strat- 
ford Hall. Though "with none but a common Vir- 
ginia education" he seems to have appreciated the 
value of university training for he sent his sons to 
English schools; Philip Ludwell Lee studied law in the 
Inner Temple, London; Richard Henry Lee attended 
the Wakefield Academy in Yorkshire; and Arthur Lee 
was sent to Eton and thence to Edinborough where 
he obtained a diploma "approving him as a general 
scholar and conferring the degree of M.D." 

The first generation of Fitzhughs on the Potomac 
sent a son abroad to study, the same boy who learned 
French from the pastor of the Huguenot refugees on 
the river, as disclosed in this letter of his father's sent 



230 POTOiNIAC LANDINGS 

to George Mason of Bristol by the Captain of the 
Richard and John: *'S'r, by this comes a large & 
dear consignment from me, the consignment of a son 
to your Care & Conduct. . . . To tell you that he 
is eleven years & a half old, & can hardly read or write 
a word of English might make you believe that either 
he was a dull boy or that I had been a very careless & 
neglectful Parent. Indeed it is neither Carelessness in 
me nor dullness in him, for although he cannot read or 
write English, yet he can both read, write & speak 
French & has run over the rudiments of the Latin 
grammar, according to the french method, for he has 
been a considerable time with a most ingenious french 
Gentleman, a minister who had the Government & 
tutorage of him, & indeed did it singularly well; but 
the unhealthy fullness of his seat & the sickliness of 
the child occasiones his remove from thence. There- 
fore if it could be as Capt. Jones tells me it may, I would 
have him put to a french school-master to continue 
his French & learn Latin. Now Capt. Jones tells me 
there is such a school or two about three or four miles 
from Bristol & if it could conveniently be done I would 
have him boarded at school-master's house . . . 
& hope within a week after his arrival you will con- 
trive him to his business, whats necessary for him, 
either for books, cloathes or now & then a little money 
to buy apples, plums &c., is left solely to yourself & all 
charges shall be punctually answer'd you & thankfully 
acknowledged . ' ' 

Henry Fitzhugh of Eagle's Nest matriculated at 
Christ Church College Oxford in 1722. Though George 
Washington was thrown on his own resources and 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 231 

those of the Virginia small schools, his elder half- 
brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, crossed the At- 
lantic and studied at Appleby in the Westmoreland for 
which their native county on the Potomac was named. 
In 1771 Richard Henry Lee wrote his brother William 
that his neighbour John Turberville of Pecatone "has 
committed to your care a very important concern, the 
direction of his Sons education ... he chooses 
his Son be placed either at Eton, at Winchester, or at 
Westminster"; and the next year he sent him his own 
two sons to study at St. Bees, at Warrington, in Lan- 
cashire, with these injunctions: "I propose Thomas 
for the Church, and Ludwell for the Bar. About 15 
years old Ludwell may be entered of one of the Inns 
of Court, and actually come there to study law at 18." 
These boys were in England when the Colonies de- 
clared war on the mother country and as the sons of one 
of the most conspicuous "rebels" their situation gave 
him poignant concern. "I am exceedingly uneasy 
a;bout my poor Boys," he wrote his brother Arthur, 
"I beg of you to get them to me in the quickest and 
safest manner." They were still in England in 1778. 

What must have been the other experiences of co- 
lonial boys in England can in the main only be imagined. 
But it is known that Arthur Lee met Dr. Samuel 
Johnson on Christmas Eve, 1760, and from him received 
advice as to where he should study medicine. One of 
the most graphic sketches of the Doctor outside Bos- 
well's pages is preserved in a letter from Arthur Lee: 

"Last night I was in company with Dr. Johnson, 
author of the English Dictionary. His outward 
appearance is very droll and uncouth. The too arduous 



232 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

cultivation of his mind seems to have caused a very great 
neglect of his body, but for this his friends are rewarded 
in the enjoyment of a mind most elegantly polished, 
enlightened and refined; possessed as he is of an in- 
exhaustible fund of remark, a Copious flow of words, 
expressions strong, nervous, pathetic and exalted, add 
to this an acquaintance with almost every subject that 
can be proposed; an intelHgent mind cannot fail of receiv- 
ing the most agreeable information and entertainment 
in his conversation." 

Among the other conspicuous sons of the Potomac: 
James Monroe studied at William and Mary; "Light- 
Horse Harry" Lee graduated at Princeton, 1773; Francis 
Lightfoot Lee of Chantilly graduated at Harvard; 
John Mercer of Marlboro attended William and Mary; 
and George Mason of Gunston had only local teachers, 
but insistence has been placed on the advantage of his 
intimate association with the "talents and attain- 
ments" of Mercer, just as Washington's best educa- 
tional opportunities were undoubtedly found as a young 
man in his intimate relationship with Thomas Lord 
Fairfax, an Oxonian. 

Life on the plantations afforded a large margin of 
leisure which permitted deliberate and thorough read- 
ing when the books were available and when the young 
people were disposed to devote themselves to them. 
In the greater houses there were some respectable col- 
lections of books. They were in Latin and French fre- 
quently, and generally they were of a serious nature 
with a predominance of history, religion, science, and 
poetry. There was nothing frivolous about those old 
leather-bound tomes, and their digestion required delib- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 233 

eration and concentration, but the effort gave the 
youthful mind riches in style, ethics, and information 
which account in part at least for the character 
of the men who contributed so much vision and initia- 
tive in the building of the nation. 

It is interesting to find the idea of a circulating li- 
brary not only existing but in operation on the Potomac 
as early as 1697. The plan to introduce "Lending 
Libraries," as they were called, into Maryland and 
Virginia, originated with Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray, 
vicar of St. Botholph's Church, near Oldgate, England. 
He appealed eloquently for funds in numerous pamph- 
lets addressed to the gentry and clergy of England, 
and, in the course of one of them, he said: "Stand- 
ing libraries will signifie little in the country where 
persons must ride some miles to look into a book; but 
lending libraries, which come home to them without 
charge, may tolerably well supply the vacancies in their 
own studies till such times as these Lending may be im- 
proved into Parochial Libraries." In the list of the 
books sent out by Dr. Bray it is shown that 314 
volumes were sent to St. Mary's, 196 to King and 
Queen's Parish, 30 to "Porto Batto," 10 to Nanjemoy, 
10 to Piscataway, and 26 to William and Mary Parish. 

The lending or parochial libraries seem to have been 
fostered on the Maryland side rather more than on the 
Virginia side. It is on the latter shore, however, that 
the private library seems to have flourished. The 
Mercers of Marlboro are said to have had one of the 
finest collections of books in the colonies, and to George 
Mason's access to it has been attributed the fertilizing 
of that culture which in its ripeness produced the great 



234 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

document which lie wrote at his seat on the shore of the 
Potomac. 

In the seventeenth- and eighteenth -century letters 
which are available there are frequent requests to Eng- 
lish correspondents to send out books. At first these 
requests were largely for text-books and dictionaries; 
then for books on law, especially maritime law, travel 
and history, the Greek and Latin authors and ser- 
mons; and in the late colonial period for the "new" and 
"frivolous" Tristram Shandy, Yorick's Sentimental 
Journey, Margaretta a Sentimental Novel, Wycher- 
ley's Plays, Gil Bias, Jewish Spy, Turkish Spy, Adven- 
tures of a Valet, Moliere's Works, Congreve's Works, 
Tom Jones, Vanbrugh's Plays, Swift's Works and 
bound -up volumes of the Tatler, the Spectator, and the 
Guardian. 

It is not quite apparent how many books there were 
at Bedford, but the learned William Fitzhugh evidently 
had one room which was devoted to them, for in his will 
he bequeathes his "study of books," and his letters to 
his English agents carried repeated orders to send him 
books which he asks for by name. In one letter in 
1698 he directed that his agent send him all the statutes 
passed since the twenty-second year of Charles the 
Second's reign, the second and third parts of Rush- 
worth's Historical Collections, Dr. Thomas Burnett's 
Theory of the Earth, the complete works of the author 
of The Whole Duty of Man, Lord Bacon's Remains, 
Collin's Abridgment of the Records of the Tower, 
Buchanan's De Jure, Boyle's Letters to a Friend Con- 
cerning Specific Physick, Secret History of Charles 
ll. and James II., Secret History of Whitehall until 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 235 

the Abdication and the Memorable Actions of King 
William III. 

In the library of Richard Lee of Mount Pleasant there 
were before 1714 more than three hundred volumes, 
mostly octavos and in Latin or French. In a list of the 
library at Nomini Hall were noted 1,143 volumes, of 
which 89 were folios, 76 quartos, 497 octavos, and 481 
duodecimos; in addition to which the Councillor had at 
Williamsburg *'458 volumes, besides Music & Pamph- 
lets." The number of books in the library at Mount 
Vernon at the time of George W^ashington's death is 
shown by the inventory made by the appraisers of his 
estate to have been about nine hundred. Since his 
death they have gone to the collection of the Boston 
Athenaeum. The volumes which to-day stand in their 
stead on the shelves in the Mount Vernon Library are 
largely duplicates of the originals. 

W^hat these old libraries may have lacked in numbers, 
and it was no simple matter intelligently to select and 
assemble one thousand books almost entirely from over- 
sea, they supplied not only in the soundness of the text 
but also in the richness of the volumes. Very few of the 
books were cheaply put up, and a great number were 
"vastly large," heavily bound, handsomely tooled, and 
extensively illustrated. 

A printing press was in operation on the shore of the 
river at St. Mary's at least as early as 1689. Its 
product, however, was nothing more pretentious than 
pamphlets and "job work." The river planters en- 
joyed the sensation of reading domestic news printed in 
the colony when they began to receive their copies of 
the Maryland Gazette, first printed in 1727 at Annapolis, 



236 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and the Virginia Gazette, first printed in 1736 at Wil- 
liamsburg. Both these pioneer journals were published 
by the same man, one William Parks, who thus seems 
to have enjoyed the emoluments, such as they may 
have been, of a tidewater newspaper trust. The develop- 
ment of a periodical press was slow and so unimpor- 
tant that it cannot be said to have been a significant 
influence in the education of the young colonials. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Religious Life — Sunday Scenes about the Riverside Churches — 
Memorials in the Chancels — Uses of the Bell — Pay of the 
Clergy — Glebes — Sporting Parsons — Baptisms and Gossips — 
Weddings — Bringing Home the Bacon — Burials — ^Tombs and 
Epitaphs — Mourning Rings. 

PASSING from the domestic to the social life on 
the river plantation there was a middle zone 
of interest that partook of each and exerted a 
significant influence on both. The source of that in- 
terest was the Church. 

When one becomes acquainted with the religious life 
of the planter it does not reveal itself as quite what the 
term would seem to suggest. It produced good men 
and women, with sound ethics, and it was sometimes 
profoundly devotional, but it was seldom inspirational 
or controversial. It reached the layman in sealed 
packages, whether he was a Maryland Catholic or an 
Episcopalian on the other side of the river. Both 
Churches had settled their creed and their catechism, 
doubt could not flourish in either establishment, and if 
persistently entertained it landed the doubter outside. 
To be a dissenter was to cut oneself off from the 
congenial atmosphere of perfect understanding which 
helped make life so easy and so elegant. There was an 
early sprinkling of Presbyterians, Baptists, and Meth- 
odists along the river, but they were spoken of and 
written of with "Christian forbearance" merely as 

237 



238 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"very worthy people." These sects made few inroads 
in upper social circles. Politically their churches were 
outside the pale, socially their exhortations seem to have 
been disturbing to quiet orderly taste, and dogmatically 
they were regarded as having substituted doubt or 
"heresy" for a settled, seasoned, comfortable estab- 
lishment. 

In Maryland the Protestants and Catholics lived in 
comparative social amity. Politically there was a 
contest for existence which developed into a contest 
for control and which subsided only when the Catholics 
and Puritans were submerged in England. The in- 
fluence of that English status reached straight across 
the ocean to the Potomac. Before the beginning 
of the eighteenth century the Episcopal Church be- 
came the state Church of Maryland as it had been from 
the beginning of colonization in Virginia, and it was a 
picturesque and delightful element in the life along 
the river until the American Revolution knocked the 
political props from under it by repudiating any state- 
supported church and any church in any way con- 
trolled from London. 

During the long colonial period of the ascendency of 
the Establishment, the religious life of the planter was 
in the main fixed and quiet, quiet as the river on a still 
comfortable summer afternoon. The Church settled 
into the easy routine of life without losing its influence, 
and its members might be said to have sailed their little 
social and political ships over its waters much as they 
sailed their realer ships over the realer waters of the 
river. The richer and more influential men organized 
themselves into a congenial little close corporation in 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 239 

the vestry, which became the social directory of the 
neighbourhood. The clergy frequently came direct 
from England freshly ordained at the hands of the 
Bishop of London and often became sincere, devout 
spiritual powers in their parishes, but, with genuine 
human fallibility, they with unfortunate frequency 
turned out to be so devoted to cards, the race-track, and 
the bowl that perspective has grouped them and 
labelled them the *' sporting parsons." Attendance at 
divine service was notably general and the gatherings 
took on a quaint social character as will presently be 
seen. Baptism and marriage were given the sanctity of 
a sacrament, and the burial of the dead was conducted 
with devotional simplicity. 

Church attendance on the Maryland side of the 
river was enforced by the Catholics in their own way. 
It was a matter of moral discipline. To miss mass was 
to sin. The offender punished himself. On the Virginia 
side failure to attend service on the Sabbath was made 
a civil misdemeanour and the state punished the of- 
fender. This shore was settled too late for the delin- 
quent to come under the Governor and Council's 
proclamation of 1616 that every person must go to 
church on Sundays and holy days or "lye neck and heels 
in the guard house all night and be a slave to the colony 
for a week." The enforcement of that measure was 
short lived. Later a shilling was the penalty for missing 
service, but eventually the parish church became the 
social centre of its neighbourhood on Sunday and the 
real penalty suffered by the absentees was to miss the 
gossip, the fashions, and that social intercourse so 
precious to those who live in vast country neighbour- 



240 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

hoods. Some discipline did survive, however, and the 
absentees might also have missed the spectacle of a 
certain man and his wife "standing upon stools in the 
middle alley, wrapped in white sheets and holding 
white wands in their hands, all the time of divine 
service"; or of a penitent who, sentenced to take her 
punishment in church, "during the exhortation de- 
livered unto her to be sorry for her foul crime [which 
was not specified] did, like a most obstinate and grace- 
less person, rend and mangle the sheet in which she did 
penance"; or of two immoral partners who were 
ordered "to stand forth in white sheets in the parish 
church" and beg for forgiveness and prayers; for though 
these actual occurrences were not reported of river 
churches the jurisdiction of the discipline which pro- 
duced them included the Potomac parishes. 

An English traveller in the two colonies bordering 
tidewater Potomac wrote in the London Magazine of 
July, 1746, that the colonists "have so much value for 
the Saddle, that rather than walk to church five miles, 
they'll go eight to catch their Horses, and ride there; 
so that you would think their Churches look'd like the 
Out-Skirts of a Country Horse Fair; but then, as some 
Excuse, it may be said, that their Churches are often 
very distant from their Habitations." Davis, who 
tutored at Occoquon, rode one Sunday as far as Pohick 
Church and, from his observations there, he noted that 
"A Virginian church-yard on a Sunday, resembles 
rather a race ground than a sepulchral-ground: the 
ladies come to it in carriages, and the men after dis- 
mounting from their horses make them fast to the trees. 
But the steeples to the Virginian churches were designed 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 241 

not for utility, but for ornament; for the bell is always 
suspended to a tree a few yards from the church." 

Fithian in a letter from Nomini Hall to a friend at 
Princeton gave these three grand divisions to the 
time spent at church on Sunday: "Before Service, giv- 
ing & receiving letters of business, reading Advertise- 
ments, consulting about the price of Tobacco, Grain, 
&c. & settling either the lineage. Age, or qualities of 
favourite Horses. 2. In the Church at Service, prayers 
read over in haste, a Sermon seldom under & never 
over twenty minutes, but always made up of sound 
morality, or deep studied Metaphysicks. 3. After 
Service is over three quarters of an hour spent in stroll- 
ing round the Church among the Crowd, in which time 
you will be invited by several different Gentlemen home 
with them to dinner." In his diary soon after reach- 
ing the river and attending Nomini Church he noted 
*'an advertisement at the Church door dated Sunday 
Decemb'. 12*^. Pork to be sold tomorrow at 20/ per 
Hundred" and added "It is not the custom for Gentle- 
men to go into Church til Service is beginning, when 
they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they come 
out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them 
in to prayers." 

It must have been no uncommon sight to see the 
bigwigs gather at the parish church on a Sunday 
morning, the excitement culminating at Yeocomico or 
Nomini when Councillor Carter, the Turbervilles and 
Corbins and Lees and Washingtons rolled up in their 
great coaches; at St. Paul's when the Fitzhughs fore- 
gathered from half a dozen of their Chotank seats; at 
Pohick when the Mount Vernon coach deposited 



242 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

George Washington and his lady, the Custis children 
and their guests, for Washington always held two 
adjacent pews here so as to accommodate his house 
guests; at St. John's on Broad Creek when the Addisons 
of Oxon Hill and the lordly Digges of Warburton Manor 
arrived; and at each of the other river churches as its 
own particular great families rolled upon the scene in 
their coaches-and-four, gay in the latest billowy finery, 
an ostentatious coachman making the most of a spec- 
tacular opportunity to dash up in a cloud of dust and 
brake to a sudden stop in circling nicely before the 
church door. It is reported of "Xing" Carter, father 
of Robert of Nomini, that none dared enter the church 
before him. When he descended from his coach and 
strode into the empty edifice the entire congregation 
followed. 

These aristocrats were not averse to using the church 
to perpetuate their grandeur. Hancock Lee of Ditch- 
ley Hall is not the only one whose only monument is 
found among the old silver communion services. They 
had their precedents set by the sovereigns themselves 
who sent engraved communion plate to several colonial 
parish churches. At Wycomico Church in North- 
umberland the tankard bore the inscription: "The 
gift of Bartholomew Shriver, who died in 1720, and of 
Bartholomew his son, who died in 1727, for the use of the 
parish of Great Wycomico, in the county of Northumber- 
land, in 1730." The plate was inscribed: "The gift 
of Reynard Delafiae to Quantico Church." The cup, 
as has been seen, was inscribed in memory of Hancock 
Lee. In 1838 Bishop Meade found the Bible and 
Prayer Book of Yeocomico Church inscribed with the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 243 

name of "J. Rogers, of New York." The plate of St. 
Paul's in King George County consisted of "one large 
silver can, a silver chalice and bread plate" and on each 
was the inscription: "Given by Henry Fitzhugh, of 
Stafford County, Gent., for the use of your church." 
George Washington's maternal ancestors attended 
St. Mary's White Chapel and Lancaster discovered 
that the communion table "once had a cover of green 
velvet with gold fringe and in the centre the Ball 
coat-of-arms heavily embossed in gold." Under the 
communion table in Aquia Church is a marble slab 
inscribed: "In memory of the Race of the House of 
Moncure." 

The bell in the tree near the church to call the 
laggards to their knees was not the only bell used in at 
least one of the old churches. It seems that when the 
old high-backed pews had nested their covies there 
was a disposition to nod, especially when the collection 
was being taken up. On the collection bag at the 
end of the reaching rod one ingenious churchman hung 
a small bell which he tinkled under the wheezing noses 
of the drowsy ones. Vigorous and repeated jingling of 
this little bell made a nodder uncomfortably conspicuous. 

Another curious use of a bell, and at a time of day 
devoted normally to divine worship, is still found on the 
banks of the Potomac. It is the device of the Sun- 
day fisherman who spurns the labour of holding a pole. 
Plunging a vagrant umbrella rib in the bank he ties his 
line to it and attaches a small bell to the tip. A biting 
fish will pull the line and the yielding rod will tinkle the 
bell. An enterprising angler sometimes fishes several 
lines with a different-toned bell on each rod. 



244 POTOMAC LANDLXGS 

Until the middle of the seventeenth century a fa- 
miliar figure at a Virginia church door on a Sunday 
morning was the county sheriff. The law requiring 
attendance at divine worship was of great assistance to 
him, it rounded up the planters and small farmers from 
remote corners and enabled him with a minimum of 
effort to serve writs, warrants, summons, executions, and 
similar official papers. This practical method dis- 
turbed the planter who did not fancy official intrusion 
on a purely social occasion. So, in 1658, he passed a 
law prohibiting the service of official papers on the 
Sabbath, at the parish church or elsewhere, and the 
sheriff was sent off on his web of trails the other six days 
to do as well as he might. 

A few of the river churches affected ecclesiastical 
architecture, but many of them were mere rectangular 
buildings, frequently handsomely built and trimmed, 
with two tiers of windows, sans bell, belfry, or steeple. 
The pulpit was raised on a high support, but it had need 
to be for the panelling about the old square pews rose 
above all but the high heads, and the preacher would 
not otherwise have been seen, nor could he have seen, 
and there was a powerful inducement to "shut-eye" in 
the drone of certain clerical voices. These same pews 
were privately owned and descended in the same family 
from generation to generation, like the family seat and 
seal. When the floor of the church was covered with 
pews the need for more room was met by hanging gal- 
leries. These, however, were usually placed at the 
disposal of the slaves. 

The payment of the clergy in so unstable a currency 
as tobacco put certain parishes at a disadvantage, for 




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PoHicK Church 

Here Ge(irg<> \\;i.sliin}il()ri was a vcstryiium ami worsliijjpt'd coiitiiiuously 
until the Rexolulion. I'tilil tlic end of liis liiV he inainlaini'd two ]w\\s here 
for till- family and f,'uests from Mount Vernon. They may he seen hefore the 
c-haneel, the last two on the right of the aisle leading past the pulpit. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 245 

the ministers went with the preferments. A parish 
which raised poor tobacco seldom got a good preacher. 
Indeed, as it was reported, "some parishes are long 
vacant upon Account of the Badness of the Tobacco." 
In the earlier days of the colonies ministers on the south 
side of the Potomac participated in the further gene- 
rosity of the Governor and Council who ordered that in 
addition to their tobacco wage they should receive "the 
20th calfe, the 20th kidd of goates, and the 20th pigge." 
At the same time a legal schedule of fees for clerical 
functions was arranged by which the minister was 
allowed "for Marriage" two shillings; "for churchinge" 
one shilling; "for Buryinge" one shilling; but "for 
Christeninge " no shilling. Fees, however, were April 
weather for uncertainty. The legal marriage fee 
climbed in 1696 to twenty shillings, but this for some 
reason shrank to five shillings if the ceremony was 
preceded by the publication of banns; doubtless to put 
a premium on the banns. An old vestry book of St. 
Stephen's Parish in Northumberland shows that in 
1723 Rev. John Bell was charged "for eight sermons 
at 450 pounds of tobacco a-piece", and 1724 "Rev. Mr. 
Lecharcey, for two sermons, 600 pounds tobacco." 
The natural inquiry is whether Mr. Bell was a better 
preacher or a shrewder bargainer than Mr. Lecharcey, 
or was the price variation due merely to the advantage 
given the vestry when it bought sermons on a whole- 
sale basis? 

Though the clergy were paid in tobacco and col- 
lected petty perquisites on the side in shilling driblets, 
they had in most cases additional support from the 
glebe lands. There the rector at least made his home. 



246 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and two ancient and interesting survivals of glebe 
houses on the river are that on Glebe Creek, Lower 
Machodac River, so named from the only name the old 
house appears ever to have known, and that of 
modernly known St. Woodley's on the south hills of the 
Wicomico, Maryland. In some cases the glebe lands 
increased under pious bequests. If the accumulation 
grew extensive then those acres not used by the rector 
were leased for his support. But this suggests a richer 
endowment than appears in most cases to have really 
existed. 

In reality, the men of the cloth were poorly paid. 
Some turned to farming and some to teaching to eke out 
a meagre living in the valley of plenty. At any time 
when the ferryman abandoned his post on Potomac 
Creek the work was taken up by the Rev. John Waugh, 
first minister of Aquia Church, for a consideration. 
But this dominie was shrewd as well as ordained, and a 
motive other than need may have driven him to 
pendulating between the creek's banks, for he is known 
to have died rich. 

In a sport-loving, hard-drinking age and neighbour- 
hood, many a gay and bibulous dominie appeared. 
They were the so-called sporting parsons already re- 
ferred to. They owed spiritual responsibility to no 
superior nearer than the Bishop of London and were 
secure in their glebes, so that it was hard to discipline 
them. Of Reverend Mr. Kemp and Reverend Mr. 
Moscrope, who officiated in Dumfries and Pohick in 
those days of a wobbly Establishment succeeding the 
Revolution, Bishop Meade said: "In order to conceal 
the shame of the clergy from the younger ones, and to 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 247 

prevent their loss of attachment to religion and the 
Church, the elder ones had sometimes to hurry them 
away to bed or take them away from the presence of 
these ministers when indulging freely in intoxicating 
cups." These two worthies were rich in ancestors in 
kind. In "Leah and Rachel, or the Two Fruitful 
Sisters Virginia and Mary -land," John Hammond 
wrote in 1656, speaking of the answer to Virginia's 
call for clergy: "Very few of good conversation would 
adventure thither (as thinking it a place wherein surely 
the fear of God was not) yet many came, such as 
wore Black Coats, and could babble in a Pulpit, 
roare in a Tavern, exact from their Parishoners, and 
rather, by their dissolutenesse destroy then feed their 
Flocks." But he hastens to add that their condition 
improved. 

In Maryland the Governor was obliged in 1714 to 
make this complaint to the Bishop of London: "There 
are some Rectors in Maryland whose education and 
morals are a scandal to their profession, and I am 
amazed how such illiterate men came to be in Holy 
Orders." This was one of several complaints sent to 
His Lordship of London, who had also to listen to 
this description of a Maryland dominie from one of 
the better type of rectors: "An Irish vagrant, who has 
strolled from place to place on this continent, now 
in the army, now school-teaching, now keeping a public 
house, now marrying, and presently abandoning his 
wife, always in debt, always drunk, always absconding, 
he is yet, without any change of heart or manners, 
inducted into holy orders, and sent to this province, 
where he is drunk in the pulpit, and behaving otherwise 



248 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

so disgracefully that finally he flees of his own free 
will. " The extravagances of the few doubtless coloured 
the impression of the many and conditions altered 
materially for the better with the introduction of the 
domestic bishops on this side of the Atlantic. 

Less scandalous but not less trying to the sense of 
ecclesiastical propriety was shrew d and harmless Parson 
Weems of Dumfries with his peripatetic gig, book-pack, 
and fiddle; and the eccentricity of poor Mr. O'Neill of 
Pohick who was such a favourite with Mr. Justice 
Bushrod Washington of Mount Vernon. It is said 
that he always spent his Christmas at Mount Vernon 
and invariably appeared in a full suit of velvet which 
had belonged to General Washington. But the amusing 
feature of the situation arose from the fact that the 
clothes fashioned for the well-proportioned figure of the 
General sat with absurd effect on the abnormally long 
body and short legs of the Reverend Mr. O'Neill. 

A baptism in colonial days seems to have been an 
"extraordinary occasion," transcending even the trial 
of a man accused of hanging a witch. There is John 
Washington's word for this, written from Westmoreland 
to Governor Fendall of Maryland. It seems that 
Mr. Washington had made these accusations against 
one Captain Edward Prescott, but when the day for 
trial was set and word was sent across the river from 
St. Mary's City that the trial would be held *'ye 4th or 
5th of October" and requesting the accusant to appear, 
he replied on Sept. 30, 1659: ''Hounble Sir Yours of the 
29th instant this day received. I am sorry, yet my 
extraordinary occasions will not permit me to be at ye 
next Provincial Court to be held in Maryland ye 4 of 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 249 

this next month. Because then, God wilHng, I intend 
to git my young sonne baptized, all ye company and 
gossips being all ready invited . ' ' To this he coolly added 
that if Prescott be bound over to the next session of the 
court "I will doe what lyeth in my power to get then 
over." 

The court must wait on the "gossips"? The word 
was not used, however, in the modern sense. By 
"gossips" Mr. Washington meant the sponsors in 
baptism for his young son. This casual John Washing- 
ton was the immigrant ancestor of George Washington, 
and Captain Prescott was skipper of The Sarah 
Artch, in which ship this first Washington came to 
America, and on that voyage into the Potomac he 
alleges the hanging of the witch took place. 

The first Potomac weddings took place in church in 
the morning between the hours of eight and twelve. In 
Maryland this was the result of the usual Catholic 
custom of celebrating a union with a nuptial mass. In 
Virginia it w^as required by an act of the Assembly. 
Later, when the colonies spread and the distances to a 
church increased, the home wedding almost entirely 
eclipsed the church wedding in Protestant families. 
Either a license or the publication of the banns, by the 
minister in church or by notice on the court-house door, 
was required before the ceremony might be performed 
in Virginia. Apparently there was not the same re- 
quirement, or at least equal strictness in enforcing it, in 
Maryland, for spread on the Entry Book of the Colony 
of Virginia for the session of October 20, 1673, is a 
request for the Governor to appoint a committee to 
consult with the neighbouring Governor at St. Mary's 



250 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

with a view to adopting some measure which would 
make it illegal for Catholic priests and Protestant 
ministers to marry young couples who had crossed the 
Potomac to effect clandestine marriages. 

Just as the distance from the church fostered the 
home wedding it was likewise the distances between 
the plantations which extended the weddings in river 
houses to lengthy social occasions. When a family 
had sailed or driven all day, with the prospect of an 
equally long trip home, special entertainment was 
expected and it seems to have been provided. The 
accompaniment of the ceremony was a bountiful sup- 
per with abundance of wine and liquor, florid toasts 
and eloquent replies, all followed with a dance which 
usually settled into an endurance contest of youthful 
energies. 

It is recalled by Mrs. Richardson that the term 
"bringing home the bacon" or "losing the bacon", 
common to the Potomac, attaches the probable ancestry 
of some of the families there to Staffordshire in England. 
There the Lord of Whichenovre hung a flitch of bacon in 
the hall of his manor house and any man or woman 
might come to him and claim it after a year and a day 
of united married life. The occasion was one of much 
ceremony; for the ancient terms state that: "At the 
day assigned all such as owe services to the bacon shall 
be ready at the gate of the Manor of Whichenovre, 
from the sun rising to noon, attending and waiting for 
the coming of him who fetcheth the bacon, and when 
he is come there shall be chaplets delivered to him and 
his fellows and all those who desire to do service due 
to the bacon. And they shall lead the demandant with 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 251 

trumps and tabors and other manner of minstrelsy to 
the hall door, where he shall find the Lord of Whiche- 
novre or his steward ready to deliver the bacon." 

Now the Lord of Whichenovre must have been 
skeptical of the solidity of matrimonial unions or they 
were actually less permanent in old Staffordshire than 
they were on the Potomac, for here on the river divorces 
were almost unknown and widowhood or widowerhood 
was no sooner on than it was off again. Both churches 
frowned on divorce. William Fitzhugh of Bedford 
knew of but one case in the entire Virginia colony. His 
letter, written in 1681 to "Mr. Kenline Chisildine, 
Attorney General of Maryland" at St. Mary's, is 
pertinent to the method of separation as well as the fact : 
"Sr: The cruelty of M'. Blackstone towards my sister 
in Law is grown so notorious and cruel that there is no 
possibility of keeping it any longer private, with the 
preservation of her life his cruelty having already 
occasioned her to make two or three attempts to destroy 
herself which if not timely prevented will inevitably 
follow, therefore Sir in Relation of my Affinity to her as 
also at the Instance and Request of M'. Newton to 
propose some remedy I think there is some means to be 
used for a separation because of his continued cruelty 
which in England is practical; here in Virginia it is a 
rare case, of which nature I have known but one which 
was between M". Brent and her husband M'. Giles 
Brent, the case thus managed; She petitions the 
Government and Council Setting forth his inhuman 
usage upon which petitions the Court orders her to live 
seperate from him, and he to allow her a maintain- 
ance according to his Quality and Estate. ... It 



252 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

cannot properly be called a Divorce but a Separation 
rather." There is a contemporary flavour to this in 
spite of the interval of two hundred and sixty-odd years. 
There was, indeed, a less ordered and conventional 
method of separation, but it was practised by a less- 
conventional social order than that which embraced the 
Brents, Fitzhughs, Blackistones, and their kind. Mal- 
treated wives of poor planters, or such wives who tired 
of one husband or coveted another, simply ran away. 
It has been found that advertisements for runaway 
wives seemed almost as common in southern news- 
papers as for runaway slaves. 

As the Church blessed the babe and the bride, so the 
divine office was always read above the dead. The 
people of small or moderate means were buried in the 
churchyard, but an established family had its private 
burying ground near the great house on its own estate. 
The Washingtons of Mount Vernon were buried in a 
family tomb, but this is a rare instance of such elegance. 
As a rule the interments were in the earth itself. 
Many elegant memorials were reared above the dead. 
Sometimes a solid slab of stone or marble lay a man's 
length on the ground and recited the virtues of the 
deceased in a litany of fine phrases. A more orna- 
mental device was to raise such a stone, table-wise, on 
six stone supports. Such is the marking of the grave 
of William Hebb at Porto Bello. The marble sar- 
cophagus set upon the ground, its top chiselled with 
name and dates and virtues, was a still finer example 
of interment and monument combined. Anne Mason 
was buried in such a sarcophagus by her worshipful 
husband, George of Gunston Hall, who, however, lies in 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 253 

the earth at her side with only a commonplace modern 
headstone to mark the grave of one of America's 
profoundest thinkers. The burying ground at Rose 
Hill stood at the foot of the terraces or "falls", and 
here still stands the sarcophagus of good Dr. Gustavus 
Brown. An admirable restoration has been made of 
the burying ground at Bushfield, and many of the 
broken and crumbling stones of the Bushrods and 
Washingtons have been set up again in an orderly 
fashion under the shade of the locusts which had 
threatened to obliterate them. 

What an epitaph maker would do when he gave him- 
self rein is unbelievable without evidence. One of the 
most complete survivals of the florid epitaph is that 
placed above Lettice Fitzhugh Turberville by her 
husband. Captain George of Hickory Hill near Nomini, 
who evidently believed in leaving nothing unsaid: 

"From a Child she knew the Scriptures which made 
her wise unto Salvation : From her Infancy she Learned 
to walk in the Paths of Virtue. She was Beautiful 
But not Vain: Witty but not Talkativ: Her Religion 
was Pure Fervent Cheerful and of the Church of 
England: Her Virtue Steadfast Easy Natural: Her 
Mind had that mixture of Nobleness and Gentleness 
As Made Her Lovely in the Eyes of all People : She was 
Marryed to Capt. George Turberville, May 16th, 1727. 
The best of Wives Made him the Happiest of Husbands. 
She died the 10th of Feb. 1732, in the 25th Year of Her 
Age and 6th of her Marriage. Who can express the 
Grief. Soon did she compleat her Perfection, Soon did 
She finish her Course of Life. Early was She exempted 
from the Miseries of Human Life by God's particular 



254 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Grace. Thus Doth He Deal with his Particular 
Favorites. 

All that was good in Woman Kind 
A Beauteous Form More Lovely Mind 
Lies buryed under Neath this Stone 
Who Living Was Excelled by None." 

Councillor Carter was a neighbour of the Turber- 
villes. He was familiar with this and similar epitaphs. 
One winter evening, when the children had retired and 
the talk turned "on serious matters", he observed 
that he "would have no splendid nor magnificent 
monument, nor even stone to say 'Hie JaceV. He told 
us", according to Fithian, who with Mrs. Carter was 
the only other present, "he proposes to make his own 
Coffin & use it for a chest til its proper use shall be 
required — That no Stone, nor Inscription be put over 
him — And that he would choose to be laid under a 
shady Tree where he might be undisturbed & sleep in 
peace & obscurity. — He told us, that with his own 
hands he planted, and is with great diligence raising 
a Catalpa-Tree at the head of his Father who lies in his 
Garden." Whereupon Mrs. Carter "beg'd that she 
might have a Stone, with this only for a monument, 
'Here lies Ann Tasker Carter'." 

There is a nice tradition associated with the grave of 
General Small wood on Matt a woman Creek near the 
ruins of the old house which was this Revolutionary 
hero's home. Patriots have marked the spot with a 
monument, but above the grave rises also a fine old 
walnut tree. It is said that when the General was 
buried in 1792 one of the gentlemen at the open grave 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 255 

pulled out the wooden peg which marked its head and 
into the hole slipped a walnut. The ancient tree which 
shades the spot to-day is credited as the growth from 
that planting. 

Some notion of the cost of a funeral in the old days on 
the river may be inferred from the bill for the burial 
of the Rev. Moses Tabb, Rector of St. George's, 
Poplar Hill, who is buried in the shadow of Christ 
Church, Chaptico, since it has been preserved: 





the 




Decm^ 8 1776 


M^ Bond 


Dr 


To M"- Moses Tabs buriel 




To the Minister 


6 :0 


Clerk 


4 :6 


Ground 


15 :0 


Grave Digging 


6 :6 


Invitation 


10 :0 


bell 


3 :0 


Watchman 


8 :0 


Pall 


1— 0—0 


Reev''! of M' W"" Bond the above in full 




p' Jacob Diegel, 




Sexton of Christ Church. 



Burials like weddings drew attendance from distant 
plantations, and the entertainment provided was not 
limited to the hospitality which sustains without cheer- 
ing and stimulating. A funeral was often made a 
notable social occasion during which great quantities 
of liquor were provided and consumed. Naturally a 
funeral often took character from the directions in the 
will of the deceased. Thomas Lee of Stratford specified : 
"Having observed much indecent mirth at Funerals, 
I desire that Last Piece of Human Vanity be Omitted, 
and that attended only by some of those friends and 



^56 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Relatives that are near, my Body may be silently 
interred with only the Church Ceremony, and that a 
Funeral sermon for Instruction to the living be preached 
at the Parish Church near Stratford on any other Day." 
Lawrence Washington of Westmoreland in 1698 also 
directed *'a sermon at the Church" but he limited the 
total expenditure for his funeral to "three hundred 
pounds of tobacco." Hancock Lee of Prince George*s 
County, Maryland, in 1752 directed, perhaps in pro- 
test against ostentatious funerals on his side of the 
river, that his body "be decently buried without pomp 
or show and in the presence of a few friends only." 

Old Dick Cole of Salisbury Park, the braggart who 
swore valiantly against the Governor and dictated 
himself in his epitaph "a grievous Sinner, That died a 
Little before Dinner," went so far as to set out in his 
will how every one present at his funeral was to be 
decorated. The minister and pall-bearers w^ere directed 
to wear gloves and "a love scarf"; whereas the others 
who stood by his grave were to wear "gloves and rib- 
bons." As the mourning was at his expense, he thus 
assured that he should be mourned. The same old 
Westmoreland Records which attest the above pre- 
serve this curious request of Hannah Bushrod Washing- 
ton of Bushfield, sister-in-law of the General and 
mother of Justice Bushrod Washington of Mount 
Vernon, which she apologetically set out in her will : 

"In the name of God, Amen. I Hannah Washington 
of Bushfield in the Parish of Cople and County of 
Westmoreland, being sound in mind though weak in 
body and health make this my last Will and Testament. 
I am very conscious of my great inability in drawing up 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 257 

any instrument of writing yet as none except my 
dearest friends will be at all concerned about it, I 
trust that they will make every allowance for the 
defects which they may meet with here. . . . The 
cruel custom in this country of hurrying a poor creature 
into a coffin as soon as the managers of the business 
(who are generally indeed people quite indifferent 
about the deceased or the most ignorant) suppose them 
dead; the friends at that awful moment quit the room 
and leave their dear friend to the discretion of these 
creatures who tired of setting up and confinement have 
them hurried into the coffin. No physician in the 
world can possibly tell whether or not a person is dead 
until putrefaction takes place and many have most 
assuredly been hurr'd away before they w^ere dead. 
As I have a most horrid idea of such usage I most 
earnestly entreat my friends to act with me in the 
following manner, and that when it is thought I am dead 
that I remain in my bed quite undisturbed in every 
respect, my face to be uncovered not even the thinnest 
thing to be laid over it also I do request that not one 
thing shall be attempted about washing and dressing 
me. No laying out as it is called I beg. I therefore 
most earnestly pray that I may be allowed to remain 
in my bed just as I did whilst living until putrefaction 
by every known sign justifies my being put into the 
coffin." 

The frank and frightened Hannah of Bushfield 
appears again, in the will of her celebrated brother-in- 
law, in an item which illustrates a pleasant custom 
which obtained among river families. In the absence 
of any other more fitting memento, a testator some- 



258 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

times left a bequest to buy a mourning ring for a relative 
or friend. In particularly sentimental cases the ring 
was made up with a lock of the testator's hair set under 
glass. General Washington bequeathed: "To my 
sister-in-law Hannah Washington and Mildred Wash- 
ington; To my friends Eleanor Stuart; Hannah 

Washington of Fairfield and Elizabeth Washington of 
Hayfield, I give each a mourning ring of the value of 

one hundred dollars These bequests are not 

made for the intrinsic value of them, but as mementos 
of my esteem and regard." 



CHAPTER XIV 

Social Life — Based on Home and a Big Family — Hospitality — 
Dinner Parties — A Call and Spending the Day — The Grand 
Tour — Old-Time Games — House Parties — Holidays — Sports 
— Fox Hunting — Horse Racing — ^Jockey Clubs — Race Tracks 
in Potomac Fields — Boat Races — Boxing Matches — The 
Winter Season at the Colonial Capitals. 

THE foundation of colonial social life on the river 
was the plantation home. The distances be- 
tween plantations put a premium on family- 
life. A large family was a social necessity. The 
number of a planter's children nearly always reached 
two figures if the number of his wives did not. " Single 
blessedness" did not achieve its reputation in those 
days. Men married young. Neither a widow nor a 
widower retained that title long, hence it indicated a 
permanency much less often than a transition stage. 
Men took four and five successive wives. Women 
took second, third, fourth, and fifth successors to their 
first husband. 

The plantation house was ideal for entertaining with 
its large reception rooms, its long central hall, and in 
some cases its ball-room as at Nomini Hall, its banquet 
room as at Mount Vernon, or as at Belle Air in Prince 
William County its removable panelling which threw 
much of the first floor into one large room. The system 
of slavery obviated any vexing servant problem. 
The disposition of the people was fun-loving, generous, 
and hospitable. 

259 



260 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

If the social life rested fundamentally on the home 
and if the large family furnished a self-sufficient social 
unit, the home and family were anything but un- 
hospitable. They gave welcome to everyone from the 
casual caller who came merely to spend the day to the 
poor relation whose visit stretched through a lifetime, 
the traveller who was unknown almost as often as in- 
troduced, and the troop of neighbours and cousins who 
came by horse, coach, or boat to balls, house-warmings, 
house parties, and other great gatherings. 

This spirit of hospitality hovered over both sides of 
the river. Because the private homes were always open 
to travellers the ordinaries were few, and such as there 
were did a scant business in lodging. Of the four bed- 
rooms maintained inside the great house at Nomini 
the family occupied but two and the other two were 
reserved for guests, all the boys of the family were 
permanently banished to sleeping quarters in detached 
buildings near by. Although many a planter com- 
plained that hospitality was driving him to bank- 
ruptcy, his welcome never wavered. Washington 
compared Mount Vernon to "a well resorted tavern." 
But a hospitable planter would abandon a conspicuous 
home and build in a remote spot rather than close his 
door. 

Essentially characteristic of river life was the ex- 
change of visits between the planter and the captains 
of the clipper ship., which came to his landing direct 
from oversea. He depended on these skippers for 
more than commercial contact with the world; he an- 
ticipated their coming as he w^ould a journal, for the 
briny gossips from England brought all the latest news 




< 




-c 
c 
o 



Y- - 



-3 -^ 



■^ e_. 



§ ^ . 

l-ri aJ 0) 






t -2 

CJ ■ to 

§ -I 3i 

— St 

. _: "* 

'^^ I? 

S £ " 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 261 

from the Exchange, the Parliament, the Court, and the 
London taverns, all that was newest in politics and 
scandal and every variety of small talk. A dinner 
*'on board" usually featured the stay of a ship at the 
landing and sometimes the skipper would come ashore 
for a party. One such social soul was Captain Grigg 
"out of London." On one occasion he ventured to a 
ball at Stratford Hall, but Miss Prissey Carter, with 
whom he stepped a minuet, said that *'he wobbled most 
dolefully, & that the whole Assembly laughed." Miss 
Prissev was confirmed in this some nine vears later when 
Captain Grigg, still sailing into the Potomac and still 
fancying himself a dancer, drew this from one of the 
Lee girls visiting the Turbervilles at Pecatone at the 
time: "We had the addition of two more gentlemen 
to-night. A Dr. Harrington — a handsome man, I 
think — and an elderly Gentleman, Captain Grigg; the 
most laughable creature I ever saw. They tell me I 
shall be highly diverted at the minuet he dances; and 
we intend to make him dance one to-night." . . 
"I don't think I ever laugh't so much in my life as I 
did last night at Captain Grigg's minuet. I wish you 
could see him. It is really the most ludicrous thing 
I ever saw; and what makes it more so is, he thinks 
he dances a most delightful one." 

Glad as the families were to welcome the sea cap- 
tains for their budgets of gossip and their presents of 
spirits from Jamaica and Scotland, it was often a great 
relief to see the wake of their ships. While the skipper 
made himself welcome in the great house the crews 
made themselves troublesome everywhere else, tres- 
passing, committing petty thievery, flirting with the 



262 rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

women about the plantation, and quarrelling with the 
men. 

There seems alw^ays to have been room enough for 
another at table and plenty in the platters for the un- 
expected guests. The arrival of a solitary traveller 
was a mere trifle. A coachful even is nowhere com- 
mented on as a hardship, and it must not be over- 
looked that the planter travelled with a retinue of 
servants — often coachman, postilion, groom, body 
servant, and for the ladies a maid. In the intimate 
know^ledge of what they could expect in similar cir- 
cumstances it was no unusual thing for a group of 
merry gentlemen to assemble at one house and, in the 
excess of their enjoyment of its hospitality, to gather 
up their host and ride off with him "for a party" at 
another great house, repeating thereafter while the 
company grew. One day the Carters of Nomini Hall 
went over to dine with neighbour George Turberville 
of Hickory Hill. It was no exceptional occasion. 
"We had an elegant dinner," says Fithian, "but it 
did not in anything exceed what is every day at M^ 
Carters Table." Yet on this occasion thirteen sat at 
table in addition to the host's usual family. To be 
cared for outside the great house were the horses and 
"seven waiting men with the carriages." Sunday 
was generally the occasion for improvised dinner 
parties and, before and after service at the parish 
church, the planters went about coralling a numerous 
company. 

The size of these casual repeated dinner parties, and 
the presumed preparation and expense entailed give 
pause, until it is remembered that another social and 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 263 

economic order obtained in those far-away days. Slaves 
were abundant for every trifling service; the flour and 
meal for the long list of hot breads were ground at the 
home mill; wines and spirits were brewed by the planter 
from fruit and grain raised on his own acres; the home 
dairy yielded butter, milk, and cheese; the pens and 
pastures and chicken yards were full of toothsome 
domestic animals; the woods were alive with game; 
and the river held a never -failing supply of oysters, 
crabs, and all manner of other shell and finny delicacies. 
It is hard to distinguish at this distance between a 
call and a visit and "spending the day." One Sunday 
at Nomini Church, Parson Smith, who also officiated 
at Yeocomico, invited Mr. Fithian to "call some day 
this week." On Monday, according to the diary, this 
is what happened: "At Breakfast M" Carter gave 
me an Invitation to wait on her to parson Smiths M' 
Carter offered me his riding Horse, a beautiful grey, 
young, lively Colt; We sat out about ten, M" Carter, 
Miss Prissey, Miss Fanny, & Miss Betsy, in the Chariot; 
Bob and I were on Horseback; M" Carter had three 
waiting Men: a Coachman, Driver & Postilion. We 
found the way muddy; got there a little after twelve; 
M' Smith was out; I was introduced by M'' Carter to 
M" Smith, and a young Lady her Sister who lives with 
them; at Dinner I was at M"" Smiths request to *say 
Grace' as they call it; which is always express'd by the 
people in the following words, 'God bless us in what we 
are to receive' — & after Dinner, 'God made us thankful 

for his mercies. As we were sitting down to table 

Bob Carter rode up; when we had dined, the Ladies 
retired, leaving us a Bottle of Wine, & a Bowl of Toddy 



264 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

for companions. . . . We returned in the Evening." 
An apparently unexpected party of six, with a retinue 
of three servants, "call" on tlie parson's wife and stay 
to dinner! The Smiths lived at the Glebe about five 
miles from Nomini Hall. They were accounted in 
those days and parts as very near neighbours. 

If that was a call perhaps a visit was understood to be 
the somewhat lengthier stay of Major John Lee of 
Orange County, a distant cousin of the Lees on the 
river. He spent only eight or ten weeks a year at 
his own house in the Piedmont. In the early fall he 
would set out, accompanied by his "Waiting Man," and 
live off his friends until summer came again. He was 
well known in the great houses on the Potomac where 
he came, squatted, and moved on impulses directed by 
social ethics all his own — or, perhaps, shared by others 
who practised a hospitality which seemed to be test- 
proof. 

Another kind of visitor, of whom also there doubt- 
less were legion, survives in a curious and charming old 
journal, written soon after the Revolution by little 
Miss Lucinda Lee. She describes a "tour," for her 
friend Polly Brent, who carried it across the Potomac 
into Maryland when she married and settled there. 
It is unconscious and breezy as any romantic romping 
girl off for a round of visits to the homes of her cousins 
and their cousins. Little Miss Lee starts her Journal 
at The Wilderness, the residence of John Grymes, who 
married Miss Fitzhugh of Eagle's Nest. Then she 
reached the Potomac at Bellevue, Colonel Thomas 
Ludwell Lee's seat on Potomac Creek ; and successively 
visited Richard Henry Lee's family at Chantilly, 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 265 

other Lee cousins at Stratford Hall, the Turbervilles 
at Pecatone, and the Washingtons at Blenheim and 
Bushfield. 

Here are some random callings which picture a social 
"tour" of the new country: "A Mr. Spots wood and 
his Lady are come to dine here." . . . "Today we 
return Mrs. Spotswood's visit. I have to crape my 
hair which of all things is the most disagreable" . . . 
"I have spent this morning in reading Lady Julia 
Mandeville and was much affected. Indeed, I think 
I never cried more in my life reading a Novel: the stile 
is beautiful, but the tale is horrid." . . . "Today 
we return Mrs. Grime's visit. I am going to wear my 
straw dress and my large hat; sister wears A blue 
habit, with a white Sattin scirt." . . . "We have 
supped, and the gentlemen are not returned yet. Lucy 
and myself are in a peck of troubles for fear they 
should return drunk. Sister has had our beds moved 
in her room. Just as we were undress'd and going 
to bed, the Gentlemen arrived, and we had to scamper. 
Both tipsy!" . . . "Brother was worsted by the 
frolic yesterday, we did not set off today." . . . 
"I am arrived at Belleview, a good deal fatigued, where 
we found Mr. Bushrod Washington and his lady, on 
their way down. Mr. Phil Fitzhugh is likewise here. 
He said at supper, he was engaged to dance with one 
of the Miss Brents at a Ball at Dumfries." . . . 

"Mrs. Graem, Letty Ball and Harry G called 

here today. . . . When Mrs. Graem came today, 
some one came running in and said the Richland 
chariot was coming. How disappointed I was!" 
. . . "Today is Sunday, and I am going to church. 



266 poto:mac landings 

Brollicr Aylctt is going in the chariot with me. 
I am this moment going to crape and dress. . . . 
Mrs. Brook, Mrs. Selder and Nancy were all at 
church. They were very civil to me and prest me 
to dine at Selvington. Mr. James Gordon is come 
to dinner from Chatham. Mrs. Fitzhugh has sent 
me a very pressing invitation to go there this 
evening and tomorrow to the races." . . ."The 
gentlemen are set off to the races and I am preparing 
to set off to Chantilly." . . . "I have arrived at 
Chantilly. Mrs. Pinkard is here. Cousin Nancy and 
myself are just returned from taking an airing in the 
chariot. We went to Stratford: Walked in the Garden 
sat about two hours under a butifull shade tree, and 
eat as many figs as we could. We brought to 
Chantilly CoP H. Lee's little Boy. He has stayed 
at Stratford since his Papa and Mama went to New 
York." . . . *'Mr. Pinkard and a Mr. Lee came 
here today from the Fredericksburg races. How sorry 
I was to hear 'Republican' was beaten." . . . 
"Well, my dear, we arrived late last night at Pecatone. 
We all dined at Dr. Thompson's together. Mrs. 
Washington and Milly called there in the evening on 
their way to Bushfield. ... I don't think you 
ever saw Cousin Turberville or Hannah. Hannah 
was dressed in a lead couriered habbit, open, with a 
lylack lutestring scirt. She had a butifull crape 
cushion on, ornamented with gauze and flowers. 
• . . We spent last evening very agreably. Danced 
till Eleven. This is a beautiful situation — the Garden 
extends from the House to the river (very much like 
Retirement^) . . . "The old man being sick that 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 267 

plays the Fidle, we have diverted ourselves playing 
grind the bottle and hide the thimble.'" . . . "To- 
day is disagreable and rainy. The young Ladys have 
been showing us the wedding cloaths and some dresses 
they had from London; very genteel and pretty." 
. . . "There are several gentlemen to dine here. 
Mr. Thomson has invited this family and ourselves to 
drink tea with him this evening. He has had a New 
Cargo of tea arrived. . . . Today we went to 
Mr. Thomson's, returned and danced at night. Mr. 
Turberville and Mr. Beal each made us all a present of 
a pound of Powder." . . . "We were entertained 
last night in the usual way — dancing." . . . "To- 
day we dine at Lee Hall — that is at the Squire's. 
Tomorrow we dine at Bushfield, with the Pecatone 
family." . . . "When we got here [Bushfield] 
we found the House pretty full ... I must tell 
you of our frolic after we went in our room. We took 
it into our heads we want to eat; well we had a large 
dish of bacon and beef, after that a bowl of Sago and 
cream; and after that, an apple pye. While w^e were 
eating the apple pye in bed — God bless you ! making a 
great noise — in came Mr. Washington, dressed in 
Hannah's short gown and peticoat, and seazed me 
and kissed me thirty times, in spite of all the resist- 
ance I could make, and then Cousin Molly. Han- 
nah soon followed, dress 'd in his Coat. After this 
we took it into our heads we want oysters. We got 
up, put on our rappers, and went down to the Seller to 
get them: do you think Mr. Washington did not 
follow us and scear us just to death. We got up 
tho, and eat our oysters. We slept in the old Lady's 



^6S POTOMAC LANDINGS 

room too, and she sat laughing fit to kill herself at us. 
She is a charming old lady." . . . '* Today, Corbin 
and Hannah go to BlenJieim, the seat of Mr. W. Wash- 
ington. Harriot is going with them. Tomorrow Mrs. 
Pinkard, Nancy and myself go to Blenheim. All the 
BushHeld family are there." . . . '*We are now 
at Blenheim. There came this evening a major More 
Fauntleroy. We have had a hearty laugh at him; 
he is a Monstrous Simpleton; and likewise came this 
evening the hopefull Youth A. Spotswood." 

They canter about from house to house, returning 
to Chantilly and Bushfield, and finally adding Berry 
Hill, Menokin, and Marmion to the list. It may be of 
interest to know what became of these boys and girls 
mentioned so intimately in this Journal. The "Mr. 
Washington" of the midnight frolic was Corbin, nephew 
of the General and father of the John Augustine Wash- 
ington who inherited Mount Vernon from Justice Bush- 
rod Washington. The "Col" H. Lee" whose little boy 
was brought in the chariot from Stratford to Chantilly 
was "Light-Horse Harry" Lee of the Revolution and 
the "little boy" was the half-brother of General Robert 
E. Lee of the Confederacy. Nancy, Harriet, and 
Hannah were the daughters of Richard Henry Lee, the 
Signer. The delightful "old lady" was Mrs. Turber- 
ville of Pecatone, and Harriet Lee married her son. 

To the games of " Grind the Bottle" and "Hide the 
Thimble," which they played at Pecatone, may be 
added other diversions of these colonial and early 
republican young people. "Churmany" and "Fox 
in the Warner" were two favourites. "Button," 
doubtless the antecedent of the modern Button- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 269 

Button, was played '*to get Pauns for Redemption." 
When this was played on a certain evening at Nomini, 
Fithian added in his diary: "In the course of redeem- 
ing my Pauns I had several kisses of the Ladies!" 
The same evening, "so soon as we rose from Supper, 
the Company formed in a semi-circle round the fire, 
& M' Lee, by the voice of the Company was chosen 
Pope, and M' Carter, M^ Christian, M" Carter, M" 
Lee, and the rest of the company appointed Friars, in 

the Play call'd 'break the Pope's neck' Here we 

had great Diversion in the respective Judgements upon 
offenders." A game of such character and with such a 
title was unlikely, however, to have been universally 
popular across the river in Catholic Maryland. 

Dancing was not always confined to candle light nor 
was a ball restricted always to a single day or night. 
Sometimes it lasted "four or five days." There is 
record of such a one given by Squire Lee at Lee 
Hall. Some of the guests stayed continuously forming 
a house party, others stayed a night at a time, went 
home and returned for successive nights' dancing. 
Fithian tells of the Carter family's participations: 
Monday, January 17, 1774: "At Breakfast the Colo- 
nel gave orders to the Boys concerning their con- 
duct this Day, & through the Course of the Ball 

He allows them to go: to stay all this Night; to bring 
him an Account of all the Company at the Ball; & to 

return tomorrow Evening All the morning is 

spent in Dressing M" Carter, Miss Prissy & 

Nancy dressed splendidly set away from Home at 
two." Tuesday, January 18: "M" Carter, & the 
young Ladies came Home last night from the Ball, & 



270 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

brought with them M" Lane, they tell us there were 
upwards of Seventy at the Ball; Col. Harry Lee from 
Dumfries, & his son Harry who was with me at College, 
were also there; M" Carter made this an argument, 
and it was a strong one indeed, that today I must dress 
& go with her to the Ball. . . . We set out from 
M' Carters at two; M" Carter & the young Ladies in 
the Chariot, M" Lane in a Chair, & myself on Horse- 
back As soon as I handed the Ladies out, I was 

saluted by Parson Smith; I was introduced into a small 
Room where a number of Gentlemen were playing 

Cards to lay off my Boots Riding-Coat &c. Dinner 

came in at half after four. The Ladies dined first, 
when some Good Order was preserved; when they rose, 
each nimblest Fellow dined first. The dinner was as 
elegant as could well be expected when so great an 

Assembly were to be kept for so long a time. 

For Drink, there were several sorts of Wine, good 

Lemon Punch, Toddy, Cyder, Porter, &c. About 

Seven the Ladies & Gentlemen begun to dance in the 
Ball-Room — first Minuets one round; Second Giggs; 
third Reels; And last of all Country Dances; tho they 
struck several Marches occasionally — The music was 
a French-Horn and two Violins — The Ladies were 
Dressed Gay, and splendid, & when dancing, their 

Skirts & Brocades rustled and trailed behind them ! 

But all did not join in the Dance for there were parties 
in Rooms made up, some at Cards; some drinking for 
Pleasure; some toasting the Sons of america; some 
singing 'Liberty Songs' as they call'd them, in which 
six, eight, ten or more would put their Heads near to- 
gether and roar, & for the most part unharmonioua 



POTOMAC LANDLXGS 271 

as an affronted At Eleven M" Carter called upon 

me to go." Wednesday, January 19: *'J5o6, Ben & 
Harry are yet at the Dance. M" Carter declined going 
to Day. Bob came home about six, but so sleepy he 
is actually stupified!" Thursday January 20: "Ben 

came Home late last Night This morning he 

looks fatigued out. We began to study to Day but 
all seem sleepy and dull." Friday January 21: "All 
seem tolerably recruited this morning; we hear, the 
company left the Ball last Evening quite wearied 
out; tho' the Colonel intreated them to stay the 
proposed Time." 

There were not many holidays in the early river life. 
Such as they were had their foundation in religious 
sentiment. The principal social activity attached to 
Christmas. At Nomini the family was awakened 
"by guns fired all around the house." The yule log 
seems to have been in evidence in Maryland. It was 
the custom to place a new back log in one of the great 
fireplaces on Christmas morning and as long as it 
burned the slaves had holiday, being required to per- 
form only the necessary small chores. In spite of the 
doleful complaint of the darkies assisting in placing the 
huge log in the fireplace that "we shorely won't have 
much of a holiday this year, for dat log is dry as tim- 
ber," frequently it was more than suspected that it had 
been in soak in the nearest swamp for weeks before. 

The planter was an eager sportsman and handled a 
gun as expertly as he handled a rein. He had only to 
leave his front door to find game. The Potomac has 
since its discovery been celebrated as a happy hunting 
ground for ducks. Three hundred years seem not to 



272 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

have appreciably depleted the black clouds of these 
birds which in the cooler months settle on its waters. 
On shore he gunned for the almost equally abundant 
partridge, wild pigeon, wild turkey, and wild quail. 
These feathered game he hunted for meat. Of the 
''varmints" the *possum was hunted for his meat but 
the 'coon for his hide. 

The ceremonial hunt of the swells, however, was that 
in pursuit of the fox. The chase for Sir Reynard drew 
upon the planter's thoroughbred stable for trained 
fox-hunting horses, and it required a special breed of 
dogs which he fancied he possessed, but it brought the 
gentlemen of the neighbourhood together and made an 
occasion for good dinners, bowls of toddy, songs and 
stories, and evenings of incomparable cheer before the 
blazing fireplace in the great house. The most sig- 
nificant information on fox-hunting in the Potomac 
Valley is found in General Washington's papers, and it 
shows that all his life at Mount Vernon this was a winter 
sport which engaged the interest and the time of the 
gentlemen from the neighbourhood of the Falls to far 
below Mount Vernon with occasional additions to 
their parties from the manors across the river. Wash- 
ington's diary indicates that he went fox-hunting 
fifteen times during January and February, 1769. 

Characteristic of many planters' young sons were 
these brief, vagrant sketches of Bob Carter, son of the 
Councillor: "He is slovenly, clumsey, very fond of 
Shooting, of Dogs, of Horses," "It is a custom with 
our Bob whenever he can coax his dog upstairs, to take 
him into his Bed, and make him a companion," and 
"Ben has a very sightly young mare which he has in 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 273 

keeping for our intended Journey; this morning Bob 
agreed to give his brother a Pisterine, & a rich Tor- 
toise Shell Handled Knife bound elegantly with Silver, 
only for the Liberty to ride this Mare every day to 
Water, until his Brother sets away, & would consent to 
be limited as to the Gait he should use in Riding," and 
"Bobs passion for the same Animal [the horse] is no 
less strong. . . . He rides excessive hard, & 
would ride always. . . . Neither Heat, nor Cold, 
nor Storm can stay him." There is the lover of dogs, 
horses, hard riding, and the chase in the making. Such 
boys grew not only into natural fox-hunters but their 
love of racers and races was inherent. 

In the eighteenth century there were race courses on 
both sides of the Potomac throughout tidewater. The 
planters usually had a throughbred entry ready, and 
the meet was one of the gayest outdoor festivities of 
colonial life. Notices of the Virginia meets appeared 
in the Maryland Gazette with announcement of purses, 
and the Maryland races were advertised in Virginia, to 
entice not only the spectators but to attract entries 
of famous horses. The principal tracks frequented by 
the river families were those maintained by the Jockey 
Clubs of Alexandria, Annapolis, Marlboro, and Freder- 
icksburg. Their meets extended over several days. 
At night the gentry found entertainment at the play, 
at dinners and dances at the larger town houses, and in 
puppet shows, rope dancing, and like simple entertain- 
ment for the casual crowd. The prizes ranged from 
fifty to one hundred guineas. The last of these great 
meets was held by the Fredericksburg Jockey Club in 
October, 1774, it being judged unseemly to continue 



274 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

in the face of imminent war, and it was recommended 
that the purses raised for the races that year be con- 
tributed to the people of Boston. 

Conspicuous among the many Potomac planters who 
bred racers were Francis Thornton of Society Hill, 
Daniel McCarty of Pope's Creek, William Brent of 
Richland, Thomson Mason of Fairfax, Colonel John 
Mercer of Marlboro, Philip Lightfoot Lee of Stratford 
Hall, Moore Fantleroy of Westmoreland, and Colonel 
Presley Thornton of Northumberland House. General 
Washington was a steward of the Alexandria Jockey 
Club. A sample of the round of entertainment found 
by him on his trips to the Annapolis Races is shown 
in his diary for September, 1771: 

"21. Set out with Mr. Wonneley for the Annapolis 
Races. Dined at Mr. William Digges, and lodged at 
Mr. Ignatius Digges. 

22. Dined at Mr. Sam. Galloway's, and lodged with 
Mr. Boucher in Annapolis. 

23. Dined with Mr. Loyd Dulany, and spent the 
evening at the Coffee House. 

24. Dined with the Govr., and went to the play and 
ball afterwards. 

25. Dined at Dr. Stewards, and went to the play 
and ball afterwards. 

26. Dined with Mr. Ridouts, and went to the play 
after it. 

27. Dined at Mr. Carroll's, and went to the ball. 

28. Dinfed at Mr. Boucher's, and went from thence to 
the play, and afterwards to the Coffee House. 

29. Dined with Major Jenifer, and supped at Dan'l 
Dulany, Esqs. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 275 

30. Left Annapolis, and dined and supped with Mr. 
Sam'l Galloway. 

October 1. Dined at Upper Marlborough, and 
reached home in the afternoon." 

There were, however, numerous other tracks in the 
"old fields" near the river and the races there were 
taken not a whit less seriously by the participants than 
the grander occasions of the Jockey Clubs. So general 
was the attendance at the minor tracks that the 
county officials found these occasions a convenience 
for public announcements. The old records yield up 
many an instance of a race which began on the course 
and was settled in court. In one such instance in 
Westmoreland County, after hearing all the evidence 
in the court-room, the jury journeyed to the race track 
to make minute observations. When they returned 
they were still unable to agree on a verdict, and the 
Court ordered the sheriff to lock them up until they did 
agree and to give them neither bread, drink, candle, or 
fire. 

Farther down river at Fairfield Race Track in St. 
Stephen's Parish, Northumberland County, Thomas 
Pinkard challenged Joseph Humphreys October 16, 
1703, to match horses in a race to be run at Scotland 
Race Track in the same county, the last Thursday of 
the month, for ten pounds sterling, "whether faire or 
fowle weather." Humphreys brought his entry and 
waited several hours for Pinkard to appear with his. 
When after this time Pinkard did not come, Humph- 
reys caused his horse to be ridden over the course and 
departed home, sued for the amount of the wager, and 
got a judgment which Pinkard appealed. From this 



276 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and other evidence it is obvious that a race was no 
sHght matter whether it was run or no. 

Boat races were often held in the quiet stretches of 
the creeks or on one of the bays or bends in the lee of a 
protecting point. The most frequent occasion for such 
a contest was when an English clipper came to anchor 
at a landing and the skipper matched his sailors 
against the plantation blacks. One of the records of 
such a race sets the course as four miles: "Each boat 
is to have 7 Oars: to row 2 Mile out & 2 Mile in round 

a Boat lying at Anchor The Bett is 50£ . . . 

in the Evening there is a great Ball to be given." Cock 
fights were favoured by all classes, purses up to one 
hundred pistoles were offered, and the match was fol- 
lowed by the inevitable ball which seems to have cap- 
ped nearly all sporting events. Another democratic 
assembly, this one omitting the subsequent dance, 
was the boxing match, more properly to be called a 
fist fight no doubt, where black and white, high and 
low, gathered for the sport. Fithian, with rather more 
punctilious sentiments than infused the Potomac folk, 
noted: *'By appointment is to be fought this Day 
near Mr. Lanes two fist battles between four young 
Fellows. The Cause of the battles I have not yet 
known; I suppose either that they are lovers, & one 
has in Jest or reality in some way supplanted the other; 
or has in a merry hour call'd him a Lubber, or a thick- 
SJcully or a Buckskin, or a Scotchman, or perhaps one 
has mislaid the other's hat, or knocked a peach out of 
his Hand, or offered him a dram without wiping the 
mouth of the Bottle; all these, & ten thousand more 
quite as trifling & ridiculous, are thought & accepted 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 277 

as just Causes of immediate Quarrels, in which every 
diabolical Stratagem for Mastery is allowed & prac- 
ticed, of Bruising, Kicking, Scratching, Pinching, 
Biting, Butting, Tripping, Throtling, Gouging, Curs- 
ing, Dismembering, Howling, &c. This spectacle, 
(so loathsome & horrible!) generally is attended with a 
crowd of People!" 

As the principal planters of both banks of the river 
as a rule represented their counties in the Assembly of 
each colony, it was quite natural to find them packing 
off to the capitals soon after the crops had been har- 
vested, and there they enjoyed the social life of the city. 
Although St. Mary's was the capital of the colony of 
Maryland until nearly the end of the seventeenth 
century and there was undoubtedly agreeable and dis- 
tinguished social atmosphere about the Royal Govern- 
ors, by the time the river was settled and the great 
houses built the capital had been moved to Annapolis. 
The same is true of Jamestown and Williamsburg in 
Virginia. The capital was removed to Williamsburg 
in 1799 only four years after Annapolis became Mary- 
land's political centre. It was about the newer capi- 
tals that clustered the social recollections of town life 
in the eighteenth century. 

Some of the richer men maintained town houses at 
the capitals in addition to their seats on the river. 
Thither they would remove their families for the three 
or four months of the Assembly and their entertain- 
ments were courtly as well as gay. The presence of a 
royal governor, usually a man of title as well as rank, 
set a social standard reflecting in some degree the 
standards in England. In each city there was a theatre 



278 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

and a resident company of players who acted all the 
current plays of the London stage. Both colonies were 
fervent loyalists until the British taxation alienated all 
American affinity to England just before the Revolu- 
tion, and among the occasions which distinguished the 
social calender in both capitals were the celebrations of 
the birthdays of the royal sovereigns. So long as 
Maryland was a palatinate a celebration of equal 
brilliancy was prepared on the Lord Proprietor's birth- 
day. At the winter's end, when the sessions of the 
Assembly were concluded and the members returned 
to the river, it was with many promises of their city 
friends to come and taste the river hospitality. And 
so a balance was kept between respective obligations 
in town and country, but at root it was but one other 
expression of the inherent spirit in these gay colonials 
to make everybody and everything the occasion for a 
visit, a drink, a dinner, a dance, a wager, a race, or 
some form of festivity. 



CHAPTER XV 

Travel — Boats and Water Travel — Rolling Roads — Highways and 
Gates — Notched Roads in Maryland — Bridges Over the 
Creek Heads — Ingenuity in Fording — Equipage — Calash, 
Chaise, and Chariot — Ferries — Stage Coach Routes — Steam- 
boats and Steam Trains — ^Tidewater Taverns — The Actors 
at the Ordinary. 

HOW," asked an inquisitive, "did the gad-about 
get about?" The Potomac colonists were 
scarcely gad-abouts. With primitive means, 
however, they did move in leisurely fashion from planta- 
tion to plantation, to church, to the court house, to the 
capital, to the races and even oversea. There was 
little travel for mere observation on the part of the river 
folk. They were too busy laying the foundations of his- 
tory and building, however unconsciously, the traditions 
which give interest and charm to the Potomac's shores 
to-day, especially w^hen they are known in the light of 
other days. 

During the eighteenth century, more particularly 
after the Revolution, the American colonies became an 
object of inquisitive interest to foreigners and many of 
them came to this side of the Atlantic. Some of these 
later put their observations into books of travel rich 
in morsels about the early life on the Potomac from 
which among many sources it is amusing to glean 
information of the methods of moving about and the 
resources of the taverns and ordinaries. 

279 



280 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

The waters of the Potomac were naturally the first 
roadway known to its adjoining colonists. It was a 
roadway which needed no building, it never called for 
repairs, it came to every man's landing, and so estab- 
lished itself in the life of its people that land roads 
had great difficulty in ever getting themselves cut 
through the forests, much less built or improved or 
repaired. 

For ocean travel, in addition to the larger ships, 
there were barks, brigs, brigantines, the ketch or catch, 
bilanders, pinks, and snows. For use exclusively on 
the river and for occasional adventures into the Chesa- 
peake and its other estuaries there was the shallop, 
the schooner, the sloop, the longboat, the canoe and, 
according to Hugh Jones, the "Periagnia." It seems 
probable that the boat in most general favour for dom- 
estic travel was the "pleasure schooner," which carried 
the planter and his family comfortably the length of 
the Potomac as well as beyond Smith Point and Point 
LfOokout as far as the James to the south, north to the 
Severn and the Susquehannah, and across the Bay to 
the Eastern Shore. It was in such a craft, no doubt, that 
Fitzhugh went out of the Potomac and into the Patux- 
ent to court the widow Rousby when she finally flung 
her acceptance of him from the shore as he held her 
kidnapped child over the schooner's side above a 
threatened watery grave. 

For even more restricted use between neighbourly 
landings, on opposite shores or up the creeks, the 
planters maintained row-boats manned usually by four 
black uniformed oarsmen. If the sun beat uncom- 
fortably they rigged an awning to break its bite. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 281 

Such water equipages darted back and forth between 
Warburton Manor and Mount Vernon, across the 
Wicomico, and back and forth among the great places 
in Nomini neighbourhood, carrying the family to church, 
the young folks to parties, and guests on to other 
hospitalities in the chain of great houses on both 
shores. 

There are many engaging glimpses of the early water 
travel on the river, but none perhaps more characteristic 
than this entry in the diary of William Black, a Scots- 
man, who was secretary of a commission, of which 
Thomas Lee of Stratford was one, appointed by Gov- 
ernor Gooch in 1744 to meet the Indian Chiefs in 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and treat for a 
settlement of lands west of the mountains : 

"Thursday, May the 17th (1744). This Morning 
at 9 of the Clock, in Company with the Hon'ble Com- 
missioners, and the Gentlemen of their Levees, Colonel 
John Taylor, Jun'r, Presley Thornton, Warren Lewis, 
Philip Ludwell Lee, James Littlepage, and Robert 
Brooke, Esquires, I Embarked on Board the Yacht 
Margaret lying off Stratford on the Potomac, and 
about 10 minutes after, was under sail with a small 
Breeze of Wind at S.W. One Jack Ensign and Pennon 
flying. After the vessel had got way, with the Trumpet 
we hailed the Company (who came to the waterside 
to see us on Board) with Fare- You- Well, who returned 
the Compliment, wishing us a Good Voyage and Safe 
Return, for which, on the part of the Company, I gave 
them Thanks with the discharge of the Blunderbuss. 
As far as I could observe the Gentlemen and Ladies 
on the Sandy Bank, we had full Sails, but on losing 



28^2 rOTO^NIAC LANDINGS 

Siglit of tliein, or on their retiring we lost our Wind, 
whicli made me conclude, the Gentle Gale we had then 
was nothing else but the tender Wishes of the Women 
for their Husbands and the affectionate Concern of the 
Mothers for their Sons, Breath'd after Us in Gentle 
Sighs." 

Water travel held a practically exclusive sway along 
the river shores during the early years. The first roads 
were not highways but mere private roads leading from 
the tobacco barns in the fields down the hill or across 
the bottoms to the landings. They were called "roll- 
ing-roads" as their reason for existence was to provide 
a clear way over which the huge tobacco containers 
were rolled direct from the curing and prizing barns to 
the ships which would carry them down the river and 
across the seas. Neither horses nor oxen were always 
essential to roll the casks or hogsheads. A pole was 
run through the container for an axle and, if other 
animals were wanting, a detachment of brawny blacks 
put their shoulders to the staves in a way that sped 
them to the landing. 

The next type of road was the "wood road" from the 
plantation buildings into the forest as a way over which 
to haul out the firewood and building timbers which 
played so important a part in domestic life. Though 
called roads they were in fact only rough clearings. 
In the light of modern tidewater roads it is difficult 
to imagine what must have been the alleged highways 
which the crowding settlers, when forced later to take 
up lands back from the river, used to reach the landings 
and which the waterside planter used when compelled 
to journey overland to church, court, or the grist-mill. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 283 

But they did eventually evolve from trails to bridle 
paths, from bridle paths to a winding ribbon of clearing, 
flanked by forests or fields, and apparently obstructed 
by gate after gate. A reason for the gates was that a 
planter economized on fencing which he ran along only 
one side of the road. The way in effect led over one 
edge of field after field or over one grazing enclosure 
after another and the gates were necessary to prevent 
the loss of stock. Fithian, riding home to New Jersey 
in 1774, noted thirteen gates on the few miles of road 
from Squire Lee's near Hooe's Ferry in Charles County, 
Maryland, to Port Tobacco; between that town and 
Piscataway, fifteen gates; and thence to Upper Marl- 
boro another fifteen gates. The turbulent Mrs. Turber- 
ville of Pecatone had, as already noted, her own way of 
dealing with these obstructions to her progress. She 
armed her outriders with axes and ordered them to 
smash all obstructions. But, in truth, nearly all 
travellers by wheeled vehicles carried axes. The primi- 
tive roads were so narrow that two conveyances could 
not pass except when they met happily in the open 
fields. If they met in the forest a roadside clearing was 
cut away. Too, when the ruts ahead were forbiddingly 
deep, and the mire and chuck-holes menaced, the axes 
were swung to clear a detour around the otherwise 
impassable places. The riverside roads still exhibit 
the willingness of the driver to clear a way around a bad 
piece of road rather than mend it, which is another, 
if another were needed, of the innumerable evidences of 
the fixity of human nature. An old Virginia law of 
1657 speaks volumes on the state of the first roads there. 
It required that all roads be "cleered yeerly. " 



284 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

They had a system of highway marking in Maryland, 
which survives in the name of the road which reaches 
north from Point Lookout between the Potomac and 
the Patuxent. It is still called the Three-Notched 
Koad. In 1704 an act w^as passed which required that 
any road leading to a ferry, court house, or church should 
be ''marked on both sides the road with two notches"; 
and the road leading to a court house had to have, 
"two notches on the trees on both sides of the road 
aforesaid and another Notch at a distance above the 
other two"; and any road that led to a church had to be 
marked "at the entrance into the same and at the 
leaving any other road with a Slipe Cutt down the fface 
of the tree near the ground"; and the road to a ferry 
had to be marked "with three notches of equall Dis- 
tance at the entrance into the same." 

In w^et weather and in winter the roads were fairly 
impassable. The creek heads were marshy and where 
the tide had forced a channel a crossing required a 
bridge. The requirement did not insure that there was 
a bridge at such a point. What it really meant was 
that the traveller made his way across farther up where 
the creek was shallower or that he swam and led his 
horse across the watery barrier, for bridges were few, 
and such as they were, poorly kept up. Hugh Jones 
found this circuiting of creek heads to be the "worst 
inconveniency" of land travel in the tidewater country. 

AMien the way was shortened by an attempt to bridge 
a creek in its narrower reaches the "inconveniency" 
seems not to have been wholly eliminated. In such 
a place a "floating bridge" was the earliest device. 
The engineering was simple. Logs of wood were placed 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 285 

side yy side on the surface of the water and planks were 
lashed to them. Such a bridge floated high, but only 
somewhat dry, until weighted with vehicle and horses. 
Then it disappeared to a depth in proportion to the 
weight upon it, and the animals splashed their way 
across an invisible floor. The floating bridge was 
scarcely a dry walk even for a foot passenger. 

The attempts to ferry vehicles across the runs and 
creeks were as ludicrous as they were ingenious and 
difiicult. It was of course one thing to find the ferry, 
another to find the ferry -man. If the ferry was a dug- 
out or a canoe the traveller rode in the boat and swam 
his horse across. It was necessary often to take wheeled 
vehicles apart in order to get them aboard the primitive 
boats, or for the vehicle to straddle the boat with the 
wheels cutting the water on both sides. When two 
boats were available, if one of them was not large 
enough for the job, they were lashed parallel and the 
wheels of one side of the vehicle rested in one boat and 
those of the other side rested in the other boat. In 
such manner also horses even were ferried, with their 
fore feet in one canoe and their hind feet in another. 

In spite of this indifference to road building and road 
mending, if not to the hardships imposed by the 
neglected state of the tidewater highways, it is curious 
to discover that the first American turnpike started 
from the Potomac. This pike was begun in 1785 and 
ran from Alexandria to "Sniggers and Vesta's Gaps" 
in the lower Shenandoah Valley. 

The first road travel was on horseback and the 
earliest cartage was the rolling tobacco cask. Then 
followed the high -wheeled carts, the wheels of solid 



280 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

planks, drawn by yoked oxen. These powerful, slow- 
moving beasts are not unfamiliar on the roads near the 
shores after nearly three centuries, meekly obedient 
to a word from the carter or a gentle touch from his 
directing wand. As the hinterland settled and the 
roads opened and the planters developed the amenities 
of life, there came, with the finery and plate from 
England, a variety of equipages. Horses multiplied 
rapidly and fine strains distinguished all the leading 
pastures. They were hitched to calashes and carriages, 
chaises and chariots, for if there was no particular pride 
in the roads there was a distinct pride in the horses 
driven and in the vehicles in which the planter and his 
family rode forth. 

William Fitzhugh wrote to England in 1687 for a 
coach or calash with "double gear" but in 1690 he 
wrote that he had been persuaded *'to send for a 
chaise 'Roulant' as he calls it which I can find no other 
way English than by calling it a Running chair, which 
he told me was altogether as convenient & commodious 
as either of them, & would be a cheap thing for an 
Essay, upon which I wrote him to give me an account 
& discipline thereof. " The chaise roulant seems to 
have failed to satisfy, for two years later he wrote across 
for "one of the lightest and cheapest calishes you can 
meet with, to be drawn with one horse, for so it will be 
of tenest used, though I would have furniture for two at 
least." Councillor Carter had a "riding chair", per- 
haps the "small neat chair with two waiting men" in 
which he was once seen to set out for Colonel Tayloe's 
Mount Airy. 

Gradually the approved conveyance for the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 287 

established planters on both sides of the river came to be 
the coach or chariot, drawn by four or six horses, with 
postilions on the leaders. Such coaches were handsome 
and commodious and were made comfortable by the 
long sweep of springs which took up the jar as the 
wheels bumped over stones or swung into the ever- 
yawning ruts. The coach was usually emblazoned with 
the family arms and the colours thereof appeared in 
the coach lining, in the hammer-cloth on the box and in 
the livery of the coachman, footmen, and postilion. 
When the journey was over a considerable distance a 
gentleman was sometimes accompanied by a riding 
horse, and when he became weary of confinement in the 
chariot he would shift to the saddle. This means was 
no doubt often used to hurry over the last miles of a 
journey for, though a riding horse was able to make 
excellent time over indifferent roads, a chariot was too 
hea\'y and too cumbersome to venture at particular 
speed except on rare stretches. 

Washington left one thorough description of an 
eighteenth-century coach in a letter to his London 
agent in 1768, and this agent gave another description 
in his invoice when shipping it oversea. Washington's 
directions read: 

"My old chariot having run its race, and gone 
through as many stages as I could conveniently make 
it travel, is now rendered incapable of any further 
service. The intent of this letter, is to desire you will 
bespeak me a new one, time enough to come out with 
the goods (I shall hereafter write for) by Captn. John- 
ston, or some other ship. As these are kind of articles 
that last with care against number of years, I would 



;288 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

willingly have the chariot you may now send me made 
in the newest taste, handsome, genteel and light; 
yet not slight, and consequently unserviceable; to be 
made of the best seasoned wood, and by a celebrated 
workman. The last importation which I have seen, 
besides the customary steel springs, have others that 
play in a brass barrel and contribute at one and the 
same time to the ease and ornament of the carriage. 
One of this kind, therefore, would be my choice; and 
green being a colour little apt, as I apprehend, to fade, 
and grateful to the eye, I would give it the preference, 
unless any other colour more in vogue and equally 
lasting is entitled to precedency. In that case I would 
be governed by fashion. A light gilding on the mould- 
ings (that is, round the panels) and any other orna- 
ments, that may not have a heavy and tawdry look 
(together with my arms agreeable to the impression 
here sent) might be added, by way of decoration. A 
lining of a handsome, lively coloured leather of good 
quality I should also prefer, such as green, blue, or &c., 
as may best suit the colour of the outside. Let the 
box that slips under the seat be as large as conveniently 
can be made (for the benefit of storage upon a journey), 
and to have a pole (not shafts) for the wheel horses to 
draw by; together with a handsome set of harness for 
four middle sized horses ordered in such a manner as to 
suit either two postilions (without a box), or a box and 
a postilion. The box being made to fix on, and take off 
occasionally, wath a hammel cloth &c., suitable to the 
lining. On the harness let my crest be engraved." 

The chariot maker's invoice read : 

"A handsome new Chariot, made of best materials. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 289 

handsomely carved anticks to middle of pillars, and 
carved scrowl corners to top of pillars and roof, batten 
sides, sweeps of sides and mouldings round the roof 
carved with double ribings, hind battens and fore 
battens arched and carved; pannelled back and sides 
japaned and polished, and roof japaned; lined with 
green morocco leather trimmed with coffoy lace, an 
oval behind, a large trank [sic] under the seat, the 
bottom covered with red leather and a handsome carpet 
to bottom. Plate glass, diamond cut; handsomely 
painted, the body and carriage wheels painted a glazed 
green; all the framed work of body gilt, handsome 
scrowl, shields, ornamented with flowers all over 
the panels ; body and carridge oil varnished ; the carridge 
with iron axle tree screwed at ends, handsomely carved 
scrowl standards, twisted behind and before, and stays 
of foot board barrs and beads carved with scrowls and 
paneled; patent woorm brass nails, a handsome seat 
cloth, embroidered with broad la: [?] and two rows of 
handsome fringe with gimp head, all complete." 

Such a vehicle cost £103. Four years later an 
English ship brought in a new coach for Councillor 
Carter of Nomini Hall for which the price was £120 
sterling. Perhaps this included the harness which 
arrived by the same passage, but the difference in the 
price of the two coaches might have lodged in the 
fact that the Carter coach had six wheels. At any 
rate, he is reported to have had such a curious chariot 
difficult as it is to conceive its manipulation. 

For nearly two hundred years tidewater Potomac 
stretched from northwest to southeast a bridgeless, 
watery barrier between the north and south Atlantic 



290 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

coast sending nearly all land travel across its fresh 
water at or above Georgetown. After the Federal 
Capital came to the river a bridge soon leaped across 
the narrow channel and the more extensive water- 
covered flats which divided the then rectangular 
District of Columbia. The water has never been 
spanned south of the City of Washington. There has 
been persistent, but so far unresulting, talk of throwing 
a long bridge from Charles County in Maryland to 
King George County in Virginia. Much of the distance 
between shores north and all south of this stretch is too 
great for economical bridging. 

It has been said that "nearly" all land travel was 
formerly deflected above Georgetown, because, though 
there were no bridges below this point, there were 
several ferries. As essential units in north-and-south 
travel and as the travel links more particularly be- 
tween the two adjacent colonies, most of them have 
disappeared. But their existence manifests itself in 
the letters, diaries, laws, and other records of the early 
period. Curiously, the colony of Maryland seems not 
to have passed any laws to establish ferries over the 
Potomac. On the other hand, Virginia provided 
officially for several. The first of these was ordered, in 
1705, "In Stafford County from Col. William Fitz- 
hugh's landing in Potowmac River, over to Maryland. " 
Fifteen years later another ferry was established, 
destined to be the main link between lower tidewater 
and the north, "from Col. Rice Hoe's to Cedar Point 
in Maryland." From 1732 to 1766 thirteen other 
ferries were ordered across tidewater Potomac by the 
colonial legislators. Among the routes mentioned are 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 291 

"just below the mouth of Quantico Creek to the landing 
place at Col. George Mason's in Maryland"; *'from 
Robert Lovell's in the County of Westmoreland, across 
the river to Maryland"; "from the plantation of 
Francis Aubrey in the County of Prince William over 
to Maryland"; "from the plantation of John Hereford 
in Doeg's Neck in the County of Prince William over 
the river to the lower side of Pamunky in Prince 
George's County in Maryland"; from Hunting Creek 
warehouse on the "land of Hugh West, in Prince 
William County, over the river to Frazer's Point in 
Maryland"; "from the land of William Clifton, in 
Fairfax County ... to the tenure of Thomas 
Wallis in Prince George's County in Maryland," much 
used by George Washington in his journeys between 
Mount Vernon and New York and Philadelphia"; "from 
the land of Hugh West in Fairfax County . . . 
either to Frazier's or Addison's landing", connecting 
the rising city of Alexandria with the opposite shore; 
"from the plantation opposite Rock Creek over to 
Maryland"; and from the land of "John Posey to the 
land of Thomas Marshall in Maryland" which last 
ferry connected the south fields of Mount Vernon with 
Marshall Hall estate and provided ready communi- 
cation with the Port Tobacco route south. 

Hooe's Ferry perpetuated the name of Rice Hooe who 
came to Virginia in 1621 and whose descendants settled 
on the river just south of Mathias Point in 1715. 
There they built Barnsfield which was a Hooe home 
until it was burned during the Civil War by federal 
order as it was believed that blockade runners were 
guided by signals given by lights in its windows. 



292 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Altliougli the statutes routed Ilooe's Ferry to ** Cedar 
Point in Maryland," meaning the present Lower 
Cedar Point, a map accompanying the Maryland 
volume of the first census of tlie United States, 1790, 
shows the eastern landing to have been just above 
Pope's Creek. Presumably the passengers were dis- 
embarked at a variety of landings according to the 
tide, the wind, and there own preferences. 

*'In the night we got to old Hooe's," wrote William 
Gregory in his diary, September 30, 1765, on his way 
to New Haven, in Connecticut. "I asked him if he 
would put me over, but he said (for all being a fine 
moonlight) that he could ferry no one over that night. 
*But,' he said, *you can stay at my house all night. 
You, Moses, take the General's horses.' We began to 
think that this was no bad joke. After talking about 
the Stamps, Tobacco, Corn, etc., says the old fellow, 
*Have you eat dinner today?' 'No,' says I. 'Go 
look, girl, if there is any cold victuals left.' So to our 
surprise, we got something to eat, which is more kind- 
ness, I suppose, than he has shown any stranger in 7 
years. Well, bed-time drawing near, he said we must 
pay our ferriage, for he would not be up in time for us in 
the morning. So I paid my ferriage, and Mr. Glen 
returned back to Monomy. After I got over I went to 
Saddler's and had myself and horse fed; but, alas! 
Old Hooe's marsh grass sickened my horse, and with 
much to do I got him to Port Tobacco." 

Washington found this a convenient route from 
Mount Vernon to his brothers in Westmoreland and 
thence to Williamsburg. Fithian, after he had made his 
original journey south via Georgetown, made each 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 293 

subsequent journey in both directions by Hooe's Ferry, 
though its name seems sometimes to have varied 
according to the keeper. When Henry Laurens of 
South Carolina was on his way home from the Congress 
in 1779 previous to his historic trip abroad under 
appointment as our minister to Holland, Richard 
Henry Lee of Chantilly wrote him: "I shall continue 
to entertain the very agreeable hopes of being honored 
with your Company in your way Southward. Your 
route is thro Baltimore, across the Potomac at Hoes, and 
from Mr. Hoe you will get exact direction to my 
house." 

A Mr. J. F. D. Smyth of England, feeling his country's 
need of exact information about the lately revolted 
colonies, came to America in 1783 and later published 
two volumes on his Travels. He crossed the Potomac 
at Hooe's Ferry of which he said: "Here we were not 
a little diverted at a reply made by the owner of this 
ferry to a perfon enquiring after the health of one his 
neareft relatives . . . 'Sir, (faid he) the intenfe 
frigidity of the circumambient atmofphere had fo con- 
gealed the pellucid aqueous fluid of the enormous river 
Potomack, that with the mof t eminent and fuperlative 
reluctance, I was conftrained to procraftinate my 
premeditated egreffion to the Palatinate Province of 
Maryland for the medical, chemical, and Galenical 
co-adjuvancy and co-operation of a diftinguifhed 
fanative fon of Efculapius, until the peccant deleterious 
matter of the Athritis had pervaded the cranium, into 
which it had afcended and penetrated, from the inferior 
pedeftrial major digit of my paternal relative in con- 
fanguinity, whereby his morbofity was magnified fo 



!294 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

exorbitantly as to exhibit an abfolute extinguifhment of 
vivification.' This fingular and bombaftic genius is a 
near reUitive of the American General Washington, and 
it would certainly afford high entertainment to hear 
this gentleman's account of his relation's feats of 
prowefs, and the unexpected fuccefs of the Americans." 

A dozen years later Isaac Weld came across the ocean 
to view the new country as a possible haven from the 
political storms at home, and returned to publish an 
account of his travels and observations. He had an 
unhappy time before and after crossing the Potomac 
and included this experience with Mr. Hooe's boats: 
"The river at the Ferry is about three miles wide and 
with particular winds the waves rife very high; in thefe 
cafes they always tie the horfes, for fear of accidents, 
before they fet out; indeed, with the fmall open boats 
which they make ufe of, it is what ought always to be 
done for in this country guf ts of wind rife fuddenly, and 
frequently when they are not at all expected: having 
omitted to take this precaution, the boat was on the 
point of being overfet two or three different times as I 
croffed over." 

The development of the roads on the hill-tops flank- 
ing the river developed the stage coaches and the 
ordinary. On the Maryland side, however, there was 
apparently no stage line along the river as there was on 
the opposite shore. On the Virginia side there was an 
important through road which connected Georgetown, 
Alexandria, Occoquon, Dumfries, Fredericksburg, and 
Richmond. Over this road rolled the family coaches 
drawn by four or six horses. At intervals along its way 
sprang ordinaries with food and shelter for man and 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 295 

beast. A stage route carried vagrant passengers over 
these roads, but the conveyance appears to have been 
no handsome coach but a vehicle offering merely a 
succession of cross seats, sheltered indifferently and 
desperately uncomfortable. 

How private travel was accomplished over this road 
in 1790 is indicated by these details from a letter of one 
of the grandsons of Thomas Lee of Stratford on a visit 
to Virginia. He wrote his father from Mount Vernon: 
*'Our mode of travelling is as follows. Uncle and 
nephew in Uncle's phaeton; John the Baptist in Jones* 
sulky, and Philip the African on horse back with port- 
manteau. We go from Col. Mason's to Richland, Mrs. 
Thomas Lee's seat, thence to Bellevue, the seat of Mr. 
Thos. L. Lee; to Chatham, to Mansfield, the former 
the seat of Mr. Fitzhugh, the later of Mr. Mann Page ; 
to Chantilly, to Nomini, to Manokin, to Richmond, to 
Westover, to Cawson, to Petersburg, to Greenspring, to 
Uncle William's, to Williamsburg, and then according 
to my time my route will be further determined." 

A diverting glimpse of stage travel is found in Mellish's 
Travels sixteen years later: "At half past four o'clock 
I took my place in the stage, and we left Alexandria a 
little before 5. We travelled by a pretty rough road, 
17 miles, to Occoquon creek, where we stopped for 
breakfast. After breakfast, the company began to get a 
little acquainted with each other, and to exchange senti- 
ments. I mentioned before that we were 1 1 in number, 
and it will show the nature of travel in this country, 
to mention the places of destination. Three of the 
passengers were going to Richmond, Virginia, 126 miles 
distant; two were going to Columbia, in South Carolina, 



296 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

distant 511 miles; one to Augusta, in Georgia, distant 
596 miles; one to Fayetteville, North Carolina, 351 
miles; three to different places in the interior of the 
country"; and I was going to Savannah, in Georgia, 
distant 653 miles. 

"As we constituted a little republic, and several of us 
were to be many days together, we proceeded to elect 
office-bearers. The gentleman from Fayetteville was 
chosen president; the company conferred on me the 
honour of being vice-president; and thus organized we 
proceeded to the 'order of the day.' 

**Our president, who was called captain, by which 
title I shall hereafter denominate him, was an excellent 
travelling companion. He sung a good song; told a 
good story; and was, withal, very facetious, and 
abounded with mirth, humour and jollity. 

"He had not long taken the chair, when, with the 
permission of the company, he sung a humorous song, 
which put us all in good spirits. He then proposed that 
each man in his turn should, when called on by the 
president, sing a song, tell a story, or pay five cents; 
which being unanimously agreed to, was immediately 
carried into execution, and called forth a wonderful 
degree of merriment and good humour. I found myself 
a little at a loss, as I did not wish to part with my cents, 
and I had nothing but Scots stories and Scots songs; 
but I soon found that these were highly satisfactory, 
and that the name of Robert Burns was as well known, 
and as highly esteemed in Virginia, as in Ayrshire. 

"Our captain was both a son of Neptune and a son 
of Mars; and could adapt the technical language of 
these professions to the different movements of the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 297 

stage, with remarkable facility. When the coach heeled 
to one side, he would call out, 'to the right and left, and 
cover your flanks — whiz' ; and when we passed a stream 
by a ford, he would sing out, 'by the deep nine', ac- 
companied by all the attitudes of heaving the lead. 
The day was clear, pleasant, and healthy; and, in this 
strain of merriment and good-humour, we prosecuted 
our journey much to our satisfaction. 

"From where we breakfasted, we travelled through 
a hilly country, and but partially cultivated, to Dum- 
fries, a small town containing about 300 inhabitants, 
court house, jail, &c.; and, from thence, we passed on 
through a hilly country, but more improved, to Fred- 
ericksburg, 25 miles, where we stopped for the night." 

From Mellish and other sources of information it 
would seem that sixty -odd miles was the average day's 
travel by stage from before dawn until dark had 
settled. Private travel was more leisurely. Fithian 
on horse allowed six days from Nomini to Princeton. 
Washington in his coach allowed himself four or five 
days between Mount Vernon and Philadelphia. 

The experiment of propelling a boat by steam was 
made successfully first by James Rumsey, on the 
Potomac, but far back in the "freshes" near Shepards- 
town and not on the Potomac of the landings. The 
quick development of this new power opened a new 
combination for the trip from the north to the south 
of the Potomac. By 1815 at least steamers connected 
Washington, Alexandria, Norfolk, and Richmond by an 
all-water route. This method of travelling to Richmond 
was little favoured, however, as a passenger route, for 
the quicker connection between the Potomac and the 



298 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

upper James eoiild for many years thereafter be made 
by use of the stage for part of the way at least. The 
steamboats would carry passengers between Washing- 
ton and a landing in either Aquia or Potomac Creek, 
and they completed the journey to Fredericksburg or 
Richmond by the old stage. The advertisements 
named twenty-six hours as the running time between 
Washington and Richmond and the fare was $8.50. 
When steam was applied to land travel, a railroad crept 
up from Richmond to Fredericksburg at first and later up 
to Aquia Creek just before the Civil War and drove the 
horse-drawn stage off the road. Later the railroad 
extended itself to a landing at Quantico and finally to 
Alexandria and Washington. Each time the water 
trip was shortened by so much. But the river was not 
eliminated from the experience of the traveller for the 
new metal way kept him in sight of the water along 
many miles between Aquia and the long bridge over 
which he entered the Capital. In the transition period 
of the middle of the nineteenth centurv the river became 
the roadway of a line of steam packets between Washing- 
ton and Philadelphia and New York. There was a 
service of two steamers a week in each direction with 
a landing in the Potomac at the foot of High Street in 
Georgetown. The Potomac, as part of a roadway 
from Washington to the north, was abandoned about 
1880 under pressure of competition with the shorter, 
swifter steam railway which had thrown out its steel 
threads along the entire Atlantic Coast. But the all- 
water route down the river to the bay and thence on the 
right to Norfolk or on the left to Baltimore has always 
prospered. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 299 

The senior of all Potomac River inns was doubtless 
"Jellie's Tavern" in St. Mary's City. It stood at the 
west end of Middle Street only a step across from the 
State House, and its tap room and other hospitalities 
became so alluring to the clerks in the provincial offices 
that the Council in 1686 requested the Mayor and 
Aldermen to suppress it. Farther east stood the 
^'Council Room" and "The Coffee House" of Garrett 
Van Swearingen, another popular keeper of ordinary 
in the little capital. With these taverns in sight at all 
times, and no doubt often experiencing their supplies 
and demands, the legislators made stringent rules which 
governed them. The St. Mary's bonifaces were obliged 
to have at least twenty feather beds, and in their stables 
they were required to furnish room for at least twenty 
horses. Among the charges fixed by law, as combed 
out of the archives by Thomas, were: "Lodging in bed 
with sheets, 12 pence; diet, 1 shilling per meal; brandy, 
malaga and sherry, 10 shillings per gallon; canary, 
12 shillings; French, Rhenish, Dutch and English 
wines, 6 shillings; Mum, 3 shillings; plain cider, 25 
and boiled cider, 30 lbs. tob. per quart." 

By 1668 "small tippling houses", probably mere 
drinking bars, became so numerous in Virginia that a 
law was passed limiting each county to one at the court 
house and one at a public landing or ferry. This 
prohibition, however, as well as that on strong liquors, 
was quickly swept aside. The ordinaries for the 
refreshment of the stomach of man and of beast grew 
plentiful, but for lodgings there was little demand 
except at Georgetown and Alexandria. The stage 
trip between the latter city and Fredericksburg con- 



300 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

sumed only one daylight, and travellers who found 
themselves obliged to spend the night between these 
points depended on private hospitality as did those 
who journeyed into King George, Westmoreland, and 
Northumberland counties where, before the Revolution, 
there was scarcely a tavern worth the name. Richard 
Henry Lee wrote Laurens who was about to start south 
from Philadelphia: "There are three houses on your 
way here, the Masters of which are my friends, and 
where yourself, your people and horses will be kindly 
and hospitably sustained — M"" Jacob Giles just on this 
side of Susquehannah Ferry — M' Stephen West about 
5 miles on this side Upper Marlborough in Maryland, 
and the Honorable Richard Lee Esq', near Hooes ferry 
on the north side of Potomac. I mention these, be- 
cause the public houses afford very indifferent entertain- 
ment for Man or horse." 

Coming northward out of Fredericksburg the first 
stop was at Dumfries, and the handsome brick tavern 
which dates back to colonial days still stands intact 
on the edge of the highway. At Colchester, where 
Mason's ferry carried man and horse across Occoquon 
Creek, there were "The Cross Keys" and "The Fair- 
fax Arms." One of these two was no doubt "Mr. 
Gordon's Tavern" which John Davis found on the 
south bank and to it he devoted one of his many high- 
flown paragraphs which read a little as if written in the 
tap room on acquaintance with Mr. Gordon's best: 

"I have found taverns in the woods of America, not 
inferior to those of the common market towns in 
England. My description of the tavern [Gordon's] 
at the mouth of the Occoquon partakes of no hyper- 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 301 

bolical amplification; the apartments are numerous, 
and at the same time spacious; carpets of delicate 
texture cover the floors; and glasses are suspended from 
the walls in which a Goliath might survey himself. No 
man can be more complacent than the landlord. Enter 
but his house with money in your pocket, and his 
features will soften into the blandishments of delight; 
call and your mandate is obeyed; extend your leg and 
the boot- jack is brought you. " 

The successor to the declining ordinaries of St. 
Mary's as the best on the Potomac in the eighteenth 
century was doubtless Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, 
a title challenged only by the inns of Georgetown. 
This house still stands, at the corner of Royal and 
Cameron streets, a single block from Colonel Carlyle's 
house and separated from it by the City Hall and 
Market. It has, however, long since abandoned its 
cheering vocation of welcoming and comforting the 
traveller, and stands up lamely, a battered, crumpling, 
weather-beaten derelict. Yet this house entertained 
most of the great provincials of the eighteenth century 
who travelled between the North and the South, and 
most of the celebrated foreigners who came after the 
Revolution to visit Washington at Mount Vernon. 
One of its unique distinctions is that it was the scene 
of the first formal celebration of Washington's Birthday 
anywhere, in 1798. Washington drove up from Mount 
Vernon for the ball and supper and doubtless again the 
next year for the "Manoeuvres by the uniform corps." 

"It is observable," wrote John Davis, "that Gadesby 
keeps the best house of entertainment in America." 
'The Inn I slept at," wrote Robert Sutcliff the 



((I 



30^ POTOMAC LANDINGS 

English Quaker, "is kept by an Englishman by the 
name of Gadsley [sic], and is conducted in a manner 
much superior to most inns in this country, or many in 
England. Everything was preserved neat and clean, 
with good beds, and not more than one or two in a 
chamber. . . . Soon after I fell asleep," continued 
Friend Sutcliff, "I was suddenly waked by the noise 
of a number of horns. It appeared to me that the 
instruments used were cow-horns; and they made a 
prodigious bellowing in the dead of night. On inquiring 
I found that it was the constant practice of the watch- 
men of this city, on meeting to take their rounds, to 
serenade the citizens with a loud blast from their 
horns, which they carry with them, and which are 
used for the same purpose as the watchman's rattles 
in England." 

Presumably it was at Gadsby's that Benjamin 
Latrobe stopped on the occasion of his encounter in 
Alexandria with the riotous company of Philadelphia 
actors in 1796. If it was some other tavern the scene 
is none the less picturesque and typical of a life long 
since stilled. "Arrived about eight o'clock at Alex- 
andria," he noted in his Journal. "About half-past 
eight the Philadelphia company of players who are now 
acting in a barn in the neighbourhood came in in a body. 
They had been at a 'drinking party' in the neighbour- 
hood. 

"This honourable company was shown at first into a 
small room opposite the supper room, where those who 
could not stand sat down. The others filled the 
passage and hiccoughed into the faces of those who had 
business at the bar. In this small room two or three 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 303 

songs were well sung, and, mellowed by the distance, 
the sound arrived pleasantly enough in the supper 
room where I was writing. 

"About nine my last night's sleeplessness induced me 
to go to bed . . . I lay down, and as I was the only 
one in the room I should have fallen asleep had not 
messieurs the players become dissatisfied with their 
accomodations in the small room and insisted upon a 
larger. That immediately under me was assigned them, 
and the movement commenced. . . . 

"As now the furniture became silent, the clamour 
made up the deficiency for an hour. Screeching, 
hallooing, roaring, laughing, and simultaneous con- 
versation continued, till at last the cry of, *Order, 
gentlemen! Silence for a song!* And the knocking 
that accompanied these festal rounds drowned every 
other. 

" 'Time has not thinned my flowing hair,' was struck 
up by Bobbins, at least a sixth too high. 

"That won't do,' cried Francis. 'Time has not 
thinned my flowing hair.' (This time a third too 
low.) 

'"Both wrong,' exclaimed Wood. 'Listen, this is the 
key; Time has not thinned my flowing hair.' 

"Now on they went, too low for Robbin's falsetto 
and too high for his natural voice, and just hovering 
over the crack that seperates Francis's bass from his 
treble. 

"Would to mercy on my ears, thought I, that water 
had thinned your flmcing grog. However, they got 
through it fairly well, for they sang this hackneyed, 
but always incomparable, duet both in time and tune. 



304 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Roars of approbation and talking all together in a body. 
*Toby Philpot,' 'Bonney Bet,' and all the old routine 
of English drinking songs succeeded, with interludes 
of noise, till at last 'My friend so rare, my girl so fair, 
my friend, my girl, my pitcher,' seemed to have ex- 
hausted their lungs and their tempo into a general 
crash, slamming and knocking of chairs and tables 
around the room. And then silence as they filed 
out. . . . 

*'I rejoiced in the prospect of three hours' sleep before 
I should be called to proceed by stage. My joy was 
premature. Several of the worthies chose to sleep 
at the tavern, and they were ushered into the room 
exactly over my head; to go to bed quietly would have 
been entirely out of character. The corporeal exercise 
' of this sort of gentry had no scope below; upstairs all 
was roomy and the party select. Wrestling, tumbling, 
dancing, pulling about bedsteads were the gymnastic 
exercises with which the night was concluded. Be- 
tween three and four all was still; a feverish doze took 
possession of my senses, and scarcely had I forgotten 
myself before the half-sleeping waiter yawned to me 
that the stage waited at the door." 

The Georgetown inns with historic traditions have 
all passed. It was about the quaint, low, spare quart- 
ers of Suter's Tavern that clustered the more distin- 
guished travellers of the Colonial and Early Republican 
periods. It stood, not too impressive, behind a low 
portico, on the northwest corner of Water and Congress 
streets. The latter is now Thirty-First Street. This 
tavern faced Congress Street, and at its south end 
was an open yard for coaches and horses. In the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 305 

middle of this yard rose a gibbet-like post from which 
swung the tavern's weather-beaten signboard. John 
Suter was the host. He is spoken of as a "jolly old 
Scotsman" and Thomas Jefferson said that "no man 
on the Atlantic coast can bring out a better bottle 
of Madeira or sherry than Old Suter." Most of the 
big-wigs of the South stopped at his inn on their way 
to and from the congresses in New York and Phila- 
delphia. It is doubtful, however, if any other of the 
brave gatherings and grave conferences at Suter's 
equalled that of the end of June, 1791, Congress had 
decided the previous year to locate the Capitol of the 
new United States on the banks of the Potomac in a 
comparative wilderness between Georgetown and Ana- 
costia Creek. A commission on platting the new city, 
headed by Thomas Jefferson, met George Washington 
in Georgetown the summer following. The whole 
party lodged at Suter's while the ground was surveyed; 
the sites for the Capitol, the White House, and other 
essential public buildings were definitely located; and 
the deeds were prepared and signed. It is perhaps a 
none too rash conjecture that a large part of this his- 
toric business was transacted under Suter's roof and 
concluded with pledges to the future of the Federal 
City in glasses of the old Scotsman's madeira. 

It was more than a decade after this before the new 
city became in the least habitable, but from the time 
the national executives and legislators came to the 
Potomac Georgetown taverns were the homes of most 
of the distinguished statesmen and visitors until 
well along in the nineteenth century. The glory of 
Suter's was during this time eclipsed by newer inns. 



306 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

like it surviving only in record and tradition. Among 
them all, however, an especial glamour attached to 
Crawford's Tavern, afterward the Union, and its 
guest books, if they remain, would prove a directory 
of all the great characters who came to the Capital 
in its formative days. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Mail — Letter Writing — Primitive Carriers — Letters from the 
Landings by English Ships — Letters in Duplicate by Different 
Ships as Insurance of Delivery — First Mail Route — Perry the 
Post Rider — Letters to Philadelphia Regularly Eight Times 
a Year — Spottswood Speeds the Posts — Mail Day at the 
Landings — Gazettes . 

CLOSE as the boot and the bag in old stage-coach 
days was travel and the mails. As one devel- 
oped the other developed. They are identical 
in kind though differing in particular, both reducing 
to the common denominator of communication, whether 
in person by the spoken word or vicariously by the 
written word. 

The dwellers along the Potomac enjoyed no organized 
postal facilities until 1695. Though the date marks the 
appearance of the first post rider on the river shore his 
visits were infrequent enough, and his kind multiplied 
slowly. It was not until this date had been pushed a 
hundred years in the past that an actual postal organi- 
zation included the river planters. 

The appreciation of letters when communication was 
crudest offers itself as additional evidence of the appre- 
ciation which gives itself always to objects of rareness, 
achieved with difficulty and attended with the romance 
of uncertainty. In colonial days official letter-writing 
was almost pontifical in its dignity. The epistles 
addressed to relatives and friends were somewhat less 

307 



308 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

ceremonial, but as they were leisurely in their transit 
and rare in their appearances, their style and content 
were rich in the product of leisure and in the sense of 
rareness. The old quills seem to have waddled across 
the paper with the delibcrateness of the goose that 
gave them. There was no hurry in the composition 
of the word-mazes which dragged their length over the 
vast distances between full stops, and there can be no 
hurry in reading them. 

The ship captains and casual travellers were the first 
although unofficial postmen. The same means were 
employed to send a letter from Port Tobacco down 
river to the little capital at St. Mary's as from any of 
the plantation landings to factors in London, Bristol, 
or other oversea city. The letter was written on a 
large sheet in such a manner as to leave the last page 
blank. It was then so folded that the blank page be- 
came the outer wrapping or improvised envelope, and 
its contents were secured against prying eyes with huge 
seals of wax bearing the writer's crest. The paper 
jackets known as envelopes did not appear until 1840 
and letters were innocent even of postage stamps until 
about the same relatively recent date. 

When it was known that a ship was at or near the 
landing and about to sail to the destination intended 
for the letter, it was handed to the captain or an accom- 
modating passenger for delivery by him when, in the 
course of a leisurely roundabout voyage, the kindly 
winds, waves, and pirates might permit him to make his 
home port. 

So it happens that many of the colonial letters begin 
with such phrases as: "This day Capt. Walker was 











Looking up thk I'otom.u 

From the ramparts of Fort Washington built on tho Warhurton Manor 
lands at the month of Piscatav.ay ("reek. On a clear day the eity of Washington 
and the Capitol of the I'nited States are visiVile twelve miles away. In another 
direction Mount Vernon is in plain view only two miles distant. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 309 

here and gave me notice of his intention to sail in a few 
days, which sets me immediately to writing"; "An 
opportunity is presented from N. Potomack and I 
embrace it to answer your favour by D' Jones"; "I 
have this conveniency by Nat. Garland"; "Mr. Her- 
riout being bound your way I could not miss so fit an 
opportunity of saluting yourself and good Lady"; 
"This conveniency of M"" Simpson gives me oppor- 
tunity"; "By meer accident at M' Blains store I met 
with opportunity by M' Adams, and being taken by 
surprise, I cannot so fully as I wish answer your letter 
lately received"; "I was just writing in my letter book 
a long letter to you by Capt. Page who sails, he says, 
in a few days from this time. But apprehending that 
Anderson will go first, I take this opportunity by M' 
Wilson"; "I wrote you lately & fully by the Justitia 
Capt. Gray whom I expected would sail before Dobby, 
but now I learn that Dobby will first sail"; "Hearing 
that a Ship is about to clear for Glasgow I enclose the 
second of a bill, the first of which went about a week 
ago from Rappahannock"; and "I begin this early 
before Rayoon sails that I may have opportunity to be 
more full and particular, intending still to add as new 
occurances shall render it necessary to do so, between 
this time and the departure of the Liberty." 

The necessity of employing any and every casual 
traveller as letter bearer is further shown by such 
phrases as: "Your two letters by Capt. Smith and 
Capt. Partis I have received"; "I just now receiv'd 
your kind letter by Mr. Bonam, & take this oppor- 
tunity by Mr. Minor to return you thanks"; writing 
in July, 1765, "By Captain Talman I was favored 



310 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

with your obliging letter of April last"; "Yesterday 
at Nomony ferry, in my way with INIrs. Lee to North- 
umberland, I received your several favors by our 
cousin Lancelot, and just catch a moment here to 
answer them by Capt. New who is expected every 
hour to clear"; "Your favors by the Eliza and M' 
Wiggington have come safely to hand. That by 
Capt. Curtis I have not received, altho he sailed with 
Greig, who arrived four days ago"; "Yours came to my 
hand yesterday by Mr. Fox"; "Both yours I have 
received by Capt. Paine and am glad of yours"; and 
"Your two letters, one by Opy, the other by Capt. 
Jones in the Richard and John, came safe to hand." 

Letters to England if important were often sent in 
duplicate or triplicate by different ships to discount 
the uncertainties of arrival or delivery. William Fitz- 
hugh, wishing to expedite his letters from England, 
requested "speedy notice" in 1686, "if ships should 
not come into our River, by directing letters for me to 
be left at Mr. Jno. Buckner's clerk of Gloucester County 
in York River, or to Coll° William Diggs in St. Mary's 
in Maryland, who will give a quick conveyance to my 
hand and are so conveniently seated that letters com- 
ing into any part of Virginia or Maryland w*ill suddenly 
fall into their hands." "Suddenly" is surely a com- 
parative term. In a letter from Washington to his 
former secretary, David Humphreys, in Paris, writ- 
ten at Mount Vernon in 1785, he asks for more frequent 
letters, "especially as there is a regular conveyance 
once a month by the packet." There is apparently 
no clue as to whether such a mail service came directly 
into the Potomac. If it did so, it did not monopolize 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 311 

the mail, for the casual ship was still found a "con- 
veniency" as late as 1804 when Friend Sutcliffe entered 
in his diary: "9th Month, 20th. I attended Alex- 
andria monthly meeting in the forenoon; and, there 
being a vessel lying here, which was about sailing for 
Liverpool, I wrote and forwarded several letters to my 
relatives in England." 

Until the very end of the seventeenth century the 
carriage of letters was entirely a private, ungoverned 
process. Once, at St. Mary's in 1661, the danger of 
such inadequacy was given attention, but only in so far 
as official communications were concerned. Private 
letters were not yet of apparent consequence. It was 
enacted that all letters "to or sent from" his Lordship's 
officials and touching public affairs should "without 
delay be sent from howse to howse, the direct way till 
they be safely delivered as directed; and every person 
after Receipt of such Letter delaying to carry the said 
Letters to the next howse shall pay for a fine to the 
Lord Proprietary One hundred pounds of tobacco" 
unless it arrived too late in the day or "that through 
violence of wynd or Tempest it could by noe meanes 
be sent over the Creeks or River." The method in 
vogue on the other shore at the same time was pro- 
vided by the law which said that official letters should 
be superscribed "For the Publique Service" and such 
letters should be "immediately conveyed from plan- 
tation to plantation, to the place and person directed, 
under the penalties of one hogshead of tobacco." 

About 1695 postal affairs took life in all the colonies, 
but in so far as the river valley was concerned Mary- 
land again led in action. In that year the first regular 



312 POTOMAC LAxNDINGS 

post was established between the Potomac River and 
Philadelphia, and one John Perry was post-rider and 
postmaster-general and apparently all the other officials 
rolled into one; a sublime focus of titles to make the 
magnificent Pooh-Bah curl with envy. Perry rode 
his horse, and collected and delivered letters, over his 
long route, regularly, eight times a year! Maybe that 
"regularly" is overstatement, for the colonial archives 
show that wh ^never there was a communication for the 
colonial officials of New York or Virginia, Perry was 
directed to bear it without any regard for his schedule. 

This first mail route to touch the river was ordered 
"To begin at Newtons Point upon Wiccocomaco River 
in Potomack and so to proceed on to Aliens Mill, from 
Aliens Mill to Benedict Leonard Town, from Benedict 
Leonard Town over Petuxent River to M' George 
Lingans, from M"^ Lingans to M' Larkin's and so to 
South River and Annapolis," and thence to Phila- 
delphia. Three years of such strenuous travel winter 
and summer seems to have been the undoing of poor 
Perry and of the first effort at a postal system, for 
Perry abandoned the route and this life simultaneously 
at the end of that time, and it was some time before a 
successor was found willing to endure the hardships 
and brave the hazards of the billet. 

Governor Spottswood of Virginia called attention 
to the necessity of a postal system in 1710 but appre- 
hended that the great obstruction to it was "from the 
want of money fitt for Change, and to pass in paying 
the postage of Letters: there being now only Tobacco, 
which is a specie very incommodious to receive small 
payments in and of very uncertain value." He was. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 313 

however, as persevering as he was practical. In 1717 
he had pony riders who maintained a monthly mail ser- 
vice between Williamsburg and Philadelphia. When, 
after twenty-one years, this astonishing development 
had lost its novelty, the indomitable old governor took 
up another hole in the postal belt and 1738 was the 
proud year when a letter travelled between these same 
two points in eight days. The time between the Sus- 
quehannah River and the Potomac River was three 
days, between the Potomac and Williamsburg four 
days. 

There was rather too little privacy to this post system 
from a more modern standard. When the rider pulled 
up his steed at a landing, a tavern, or a store, he tossed 
the letters for the neighbourhood on a table or a coun- 
ter for everyone's inspection and any one's selection. 
Hence the arrival of the post rider was not without 
interest to a larger section of the population than those 
who merely received letters. The day appointed for 
his coming usually found all the neighbourhood worth- 
ies, and unworthies, gathered at his stopping place. If 
few of them expected letters, many fed eagerly on the 
morsels of news from the letters of that fortunate few, 
or failing that, on the crumbs of gossip picked up in 
merely speculating on the evidence furnished by the 
address and seal. 

The exact point of contact between the Potomac and 
the first through postal route between Philadelphia and 
Virginia is not quite clear. The most direct line would 
have been from Annapolis to Port Tobacco and across 
the river at Hooe's Ferry. But as this system was the 
creation of Virginia and under the direction of "the 



314 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Post-master General" of that colony, doubtless Alex- 
andria was served and the crossing was made by the 
ferry at Georgetown so as to include another so im- 
portant point. When in 1798 Nancy Lee of Chantilly 
married her cousin Charles Lee afterward Attorney- 
General of the United States, and settled with him in 
Alexandria, her father, at the time sitting in Phila- 
delphia as first Senator from Virginia, wrote: "I ex- 
pect Nancy will recommence her correspondence with 
me, now that she had come into the line of the Post. 
I wish to hear very particularly from her about Chan- 
tilly, Stratford, Bushfield, Walnut Farm, Berry Hill, 
etc." 

The planters along the lower river found little prac- 
tical local convenience in these post routes before the 
Revolution, and at nearly all times they continued to 
send letters forward by boat captains, travellers, or in 
certain important cases by a black boy on a swift horse. 

The generally revealing Fithian is not without a 
glimpse of the devices to which the down-river folk 
were put when sending letters into other colonies. 
His particular effort was to communicate with his 
family and friends in New Jersey. He gave this 
direction for addressing him: "The Letters are to be 
directed to me thus, 'To M^ Philip V. Fithian at W 
Carters of Nominy, to be left at Hobb's Hole'." Hobb's 
Hole was on the Rappahannock River a few miles 
south of Nomini Hall. The address indicates that the 
post rider carried the letters from Philadelphia to 
Fredericksburg and then they found their way down 
the Rappahannock to the landing on that river nearest 
Nomini. Although in that connection Fithian said 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 315 

*'a Letter will come as secure by the Post as from 
Cohansie to Philadelphia," he seems to have felt obliged 
to devise other means about this time for communicat- 
ing with New Jersey. For this purpose he had some 
sort of an arrangement with a friend in Baltimore. 
In his diary for March 29, 1774, he wrote: "Soon after 
breakfast I receiv'd a Letter from M' Andrew Bryan 
of Baltimore, Maryland formerly at College my Class 
Mate — the letter bears date January 21, 1774, Dated 
at Baltimore. He informs me of his good Health & 
that he shall soon forward my Letters inclosed to him." 
Thus, however slow, private carrier seems to have 
been the only truly dependable method of written 
communication between Nomini and Baltimore before 
the Revolution, for in another place Fithian noted: 
"This day the Person who carried my Letters to Balti- 
more returned without any Letters or Intelligence." 
Evidence there is that the delivery furnished by the 
postrider, however "secure," was not swift. On one 
July 27 Fithian received at Nomini letters from New 
Jersey dated July 7, July 2, June 24 and February 25 
and 13. Yet he confessed: "For these Letters I paid 
12s/5'* — Pennsylvania Currency, & I very proud of my 
Bargain." 

Sometimes when a slave boy brought a letter he was 
not only detained until an answer was prepared but he 
was carried along to another point where information of 
interest might develop for the reply. Thus Richard 
Henry Lee of Chantilly wrote Landon Carter: "Your 
boy overtook me yesterday on the way to my General 
Muster where I was detained until after Sunset. This 
morning I take the boy with me to Court where I 



316 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

expect to receive letters from the North that if there 
should be any news you may receive it." 

Newspapers and periodicals were slow to crowd the 
mail-bag. Just as all the early books came out from 
England into the river libraries so did most of the 
periodicals. There was, indeed, no newspaper con- 
venient to the Potomac planter or at all likely to 
touch his domestic and social interests until William 
Parks supplied the descrepancy from far behind both 
shores. In 1727 Parks founded the Maryland Gazette 
and published it at Annapolis, and this came south to 
residents of the Maryland shore with some news of 
their interests. In 1736 he founded the Virginia 
Gazette and published it at Williamsburg and it became 
of local interest on the Virginia shore. Indeed both 
gazettes became of so much interest that that of Mary- 
land was emulated by at least one other of the same 
name and that of Virginia soon found itself one of five 
gazettes to which the individual publisher in each in- 
stance prefixed his own name. The gazettes appeared 
intermittently, expiring with more lives than a cat. 
The publisher of Green's Maryland Gazette during the 
Stamp Act troubles issued a paper which he called 
"The Apparition of the Maryland Gazette ^ which is not 
dead but sleepeth." He, in common with most other 
colonial editors, refused to use the British stamp. 
In its stead appeared a death's head surrounded by the 
words: "The times are dismal, doleful, dolorous, dollar- 
less." Another paper much valued by the planters 
who sought to keep in touch with the news of the rising 
tide of Revolution was the Pennsylvania Gazette, 
founded and published at Philadelphia in 1728 by 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 317 

Samuel Keimer and soon after and until 1776 edited 
by Benjamin Franklin. 

If these gazettes were published with varying regular- 
ity, an added touch of irregularity was added by the 
post riders before they reached the river plantations. 
Fithian complained in 1774: "We have no intelli- 
gence of the carryings on of the Congress; our Papers 
this Summer came vastly seldom, it is said that the 
Post Men are bribed & give away the News Papers." 

In pioneering and in the early development of a 
notable civilization the river planters were genuinely 
progressive, but if the river valley could keep a pace set 
by itself it has not always since been equal to a pace 
set by others. There are points on the river, which 
until very recently, nearly three hundred years after 
the first post rider set out from its shore for the almost 
unimaginable distant Philadelphia, have sent and re- 
ceived their only communications by the boats that 
plough its waters. 



CHAPTER X\1I 

Naval and Military Engagements — Indian Warfare — Bacon's Re- 
bellion Began on the Potomac — General Braddock and his 
Army Sail up to Alexandria — The Potomac Navy in the 
Revolution — British Raiders — Levj'ing on Mount Vernon — 
Pirates — 1812-1814 — Sigourney's Heroic Death — English Fleet 
Sails up to Attack the Capital — Battle of Belvoir — "Potomac 
Flotilla" in the Civil War — Blockade Running — Lincoln on 
the Potomac — Booth's Flight Across the River — Activities in 
the Great War. 

THUS far the Potomac at peace. That is its 
prevailing characteristic, its most becoming 
mood. Yet it has staged scenes in nearly every 
important military conflict which has involved the 
Colonies and the nation since the Indians on its shores 
first saw with amazement men whose faces were so 
much paler than their own and who sailed across the 
sea in ships which could not possibly have been hewn 
from any forest giant known to the river. 

The civil wars in England in the seventeenth century 
produced an echo on the Potomac in the fights among 
the Protestants, Puritans, and Catholics; the military 
activities incident to Bacon's Rebellion began on its 
Westmoreland shore; during the Revolution the Eng- 
lish navy pillaged the river plantations, its ships spread- 
ing terror to the head of tidewater; in the second war 
with England in 1812-14 another British fleet ascended 
the river and the national capital was made the object 
of the enemy's attack; during the Civil War it became 

318 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 319 

the dividing line between the North and the South, 
its waters supported a naval flotilla, and it was the 
scene of the flight of Booth after the assassination of 
Lincoln; and during the recent great war it became a 
hive of preparation of officers and men, and not a 
single gun was mounted aboard our naval vessels 
that was not first fired across the proving range on the 
river. 

The first great guns to salute the silent waters were 
those fired from the fort near St. Mary's, where the 
foreign ships were stopped for two whole tides. This 
was the only waterside fortification erected by the 
settlers until 1667 when Virginia authorized a fort 
opposite on the Yeocomico at Levy Point within com- 
mand of which fort all ships trading in the Potomac 
**may conveniently and in all probability securely ride 
and road." That security, thus spoken of in the lame 
spelling of the old statute, such as it may have been, 
was given in the first instance by the purchase of "80 
demy culverin round shot, of 4 inches diameter, 20 
large & 20 cross-bar shot; 20 saker shot of 3 inches 
diameter, 5 large & 5 cross bar shot; 40 minion round 
shot of 2 J inches diameter; 10 large & 10 cross bar 
shot; 2 demi culverin ladles, 1 saker ladle, 1 minor ladle 
. . . & 20 firelock muskets." 

Although Lord Baltimore's immigrants sailed into the 
Potomac to establish a haven from the religious strife 
in England, and toleration was the rudder of their ship 
of state, curiously it steered them straight into war. 
The story of Clayborne's possession of Kent Island, his 
refusal to give allegiance to the government at St. 
Mary's on the Potomac, the varying fortunes of his 



'.HO rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

fight over a period of twenty-five years which termi- 
nated finally in his defeat, is not wholly pertinent to 
the Potomac. But this feud brought the first military 
activity to the river in 1634 when Calvert dispatched 
from St. Mary's two armed pinnaces, commanded by 
Thomas Cornwallis of Cross Manor who returned vic- 
toriously with Clayborne's boat, and subsequent clashes 
when this rebel seized the capital and temporarily ex- 
pelled Governor Calvert, and when Governor Stone's 
fated expedition sailed from St. Mary's to defeat at the 
mouth of the Severn. The Clayborne Rebellion was 
at core a religious matter, Puritan protest against a 
Catholic administration. 

Coincident with these conflicts among the whites 
themselves were those which the whites waged with a 
common enemy of another colour who gave them ad- 
ditional reason to keep their powder dry. The some- 
what understandable resentment of the Indian against 
the uninvited intrusion of the white man, who took 
his land and offered in exchange a strange yoke called 
civilization, was the cause of most of the military 
activity of the first settlers on both shores. It has 
been seen how the redmen made conclusive use of the 
tomahawk on Harry Spelman and his companions when 
his ship's guard fired a volley to frighten a boarding 
party, and how nearly all of the first powder was used 
to give the signal for the planters to bring their families 
into the forts when an Indian attack was imminent. 
For the further protection of the settlers both colonies 
built stockades to turn the Indians' arrows and soon 
organized militia and rangers who added somewhat to 
h e security of the plantations. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 321 

This interesting observation is made by R. H. Early 
in *'By-Ways of Virginia History": "These assaults 
from savages occurred in those seasons when the 
weather was open and pleasant; at the fall of the year 
when frost and cold set in, the Indians would vanish 
from sight and sound. But at the approach of the 
second summer, the period known as Indian Summery 
the savages were sure to reappear; and this delightful 
season, to which we look forward with so much pleas- 
ure, was anticipated then with inexpressible dread, 
because associated in the memories of the colonists 
with the second yearly inroad of the people, whose re- 
appearance it heralded and from whom it derived its 
name." 

The Indian warfare was at most, however, with the 
exception of Bacon's Rebellion, a guerilla warfare of 
depredation, theft, and resentment. It settled itself 
as the redskin retired before the rising tide of settle- 
ments to the mountains and beyond, his rude weapons 
no match for the powder and shot of the ingenious 
enemy. Bacon's Rebellion got its temper from Eng- 
lish economic injustice to the colonies and its impetus 
from the necessity of chastizing the murderous Indians, 
but, curiously, the match which set it oflF was struck 
on the shores of the Potomac. 

The earliest chronicler of this event was one Thomas 
Mathew, a Burgess from Stafford County on the 
Potomac, who until recently successfully screened him- 
self under his initials, "T. M." "About the year 1657," 
wrote T. M., "appear'd three prodigies in that country, 
which from th' attending disasters, were looked upon 
as ominous presages. The one was a large comet 



322 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

every evening for a week, streaming like a horse taile 
westwards, until it reach'd (almost) the horrison. 
. . . Another was, fflights of pigeons in breadth 
nigh a quarter of the midhemisphere, and of their 
length was no visible end; whose weight brake down the 
limbs of large trees whereon these rested at nights, of 
which the ffowlers shot abundance and eat 'era; this 
sight put the planters under the more portentious 
apprehensions, because the like was seen (as they said) 
in the year 1640 when the Indians committed the 
last massacre, but not after, untill that present year 
1675. The third strange appearance was swarms of 
fflyes about an inch long, and big as the top of a man's 
little finger, rising out of spigot holes in the earth, 
which eat the new sprouted leaves from the top of the 
trees without other harm, and in a month left us. 

*'My dwelling was in Northumberland, the lowest 
county on Potomack river, Stafford being the upmost, 
where having also a plantation, servants, cattle &c, 
my overseer there had agreed with one Robt. Hen to 
come thither, and be my herdsman, who then lived ten 
miles above it; but on a Sabboth day morning in the 
summer anno. 1675, people in their way to church, saw 
this Hen lying thwart his threshold, and an Indian 
without the door, both chopped on their heads, arms 
and other parts, as if done with Indian hatchetts, th' 
Indian dead, but Hen when ask'd who did that? an- 
swered Doegs Doegs, and soon died, then a boy came 
out from under a bed, where he had hid himself, and 
told them, Indians had come at break of day and done 
those murders. 

"From this Englishman's bloud did (by degrees) 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 323 

arise Bacons rebellion with the following mischiefs 
which overspread all Virginia and twice endangered 
Maryland, as by the ensuing account is evident." 

Thereupon he tells how the riverside was aroused 
and parties under Colonel Mason and Captain Brent 
pursued the Indians up river and some they pursued 
across the river into Maryland where they killed many 
and captured the young son of the king of the Doegs, 
a lad of eight years. That which ensued is repeated in 
T. M.'s own terms: 

"Collo. Mason took the king of the Doegs son home 
with him, who lay ten dayes in bed, as one dead, with 
eyes and mouth shutt, no breath discern'd, but his 
body continuing warm, they believed him yett alive; 
th' aforenamed Capt. Brent (a papist) coming thither 
on a visit, and seeing his little prisoner languishing 
said 'perhaps he is pawewawd' i.e. bewitch'd, and 
that he had heard baptism was an effectuall remedy 
against witchcraft wherefore advis'd to baptize him 
Collo. Mason answered, no minister could be had in 
many miles; Brent replied yo'r clerk Mr. Dobson may 
do that office, which was done by the church of Eng- 
land liturgy; Collo. Mason with Capt. Brent godfather 
and Mrs. Mason godmother, my overseer Mr. Pimet 
being present, from whom I first heard it, and which 
all th' other persons (afterwards) affirm'd to me; the 
ffour men return'd to drinking punch, but Mrs. Mason 
staying and looking on the child, it open'd the eyes, 
and breath'd, whereat she ran for a cordial, which he 
took from a spoon, gaping for more and so (by degrees) 
recovered, tho before his baptism, they had often 
tryed the same meanes but could not by no endeavors 



324 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

wrench open his teeth. This was taken for a convinc- 
ing proof against infidehty." 

The Indians who had escaped across the river into 
Maryhmd returned and "kilhng whom they found" on 
their march around the head of the Rappahannock and 
the York, reached the James where "they slew Mr. 
Bacon's overseer, whom he much loved, and one of 
his servants, whose bloud hee vowed to revenge if 
possible." The immediate issue of these events was 
the uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon. 

By far the most imposing military array the river had 
seen up to 1755 was the appearance in that year of Com- 
modore Keppel's fleet bearing Major-General Edward 
Braddock, Generalissimo of H.B.M. Forces in America, 
and his army. The French had been threatening the 
Virginian frontier on the Ohio. Colonel Washington 
had left Mount Vernon in November, 1753, under the 
direction of Governor Dinwiddle to carry the royal 
protest to the encroaching French. It came to nothing 
and the following year young Washington had headed 
a military expedition of colonial volunteers which also 
fell short of the desired success. Though Virginia 
thanked Washington, England was alarmed and sent 
an army of British regulars under Braddock to wipe 
out the French. 

Toward the end of March in that year of 1755 the 
planters opened their eyes to the sight of a fleet of 
English warships and transports sailing the length of 
tidewater to anchor off Alexandria. They brought 
Braddock and his army from England. Commodore 
Keppel's pennant flew from the Norwich, and among 
other ships known to have come up the river with him 




eS 

a 

o 



"3 . 

— o 






S c 



in 



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tij 



O 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 325 

were the Sea Horse, the Nightingale, and the Garland. 
The Enghsh forces numbered about 1,300. 

When they disembarked at Alexandria, they united 
with additional colonial volunteers. The little city 
at once found itself the centre of a huge military en- 
campment, gay with the scarlet tunics of the British 
soldiers, jolly tars "hitting the beach" for such frivolity 
as the town turned up, flying ensigns, prancing horses, 
rumbling cannon, and commissary wagons, and all the 
pomp and panoply of an army preparing to set off for 
a campaign. The Commander-in-Chief made his head- 
quarters in Colonel Carlyle's house. Here he met 
young Washington, then in his twenty-third year, and 
invited him to join his staff. Here he assembled five 
of the Royal Colonial Governors in council to consider 
ways and means for conducting his campaign. Mixed 
with the councils, the drills, the parades, and other 
preparations for the great march westward, was a 
round of dinners and balls and concerts for the Gen- 
eral, the Naval Commander, the Governors, the co- 
lonial officials and other notables who crowded the 
town. 

This somewhat hectic condition lasted a fortnight. 
Then in spite of Washington's advice Braddock con- 
sidered everything ready to begin the march from the 
Potomac to the Ohio. As the last of the columns dis- 
appeared through the hills to the northwest and the 
last of the emptied vessels rounded the point down 
stream opposite Warburton Manor, peace settled 
again over the little metropolis on the river. 

The next time ships flying the Union Jack appeared 
here they brought terror and left destruction, but also 



326 rOTCBIAC LANDINGS 

they took away scars inflicted by the Potomac Navy. 
The "Navy" was the creation of the Virginia Com- 
mittee of Safety, and, except in tlieory, it appears not 
to have consisted of more than two galleys and three 
small vessels of which the largest scaled 110 tons, 
mounted 14-, 8-, and 4- pounders, carried ninety-six 
men and was called the American Congress. A naval 
magazine for the issue of provisions, supplies, and naval 
stores was established on an acre of ground at the 
head of Potomac Creek. What part the navy played 
in intercepting Lord Dunmore's expedition up the 
Potomac is not clear. 

His fleet sailed into the river in mid-July, 177G. The 
larger ships were the Fowey, the Roebucl% the Mer- 
cury, and the Otter. Instantly the planters were in 
a panic. On July 21st Richard Henry Lee of Chan- 
tilly, just home from signing the Declaration of In- 
dependence, wrote his friend Landon Carter of Sabine 
Hall: "The enemy of everything good, has at length 
turned his steps to this river, on the north side of which 
we can every day see the smoke occasioned by his con- 
flagrations. We learn that the people of Maryland 
are not quiet spectators of his proceedings, but that 
they have attacked and killed some of his people, and 
obliged the whole fleet to move its station. They 
are continually blasting away at each other. Last 
night I was engaged with a party of Militia expecting 
a visit from four of the enemy's Ships and 3 Tenders 
that appeared off this house about sunset. They are 
gone up the river, upon what errand I know not, unless 
to get water where the river is fresh, or to burn Alex- 
andria." 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 327 

Another notion prevailed that, General Washington 
being absent in Massachusetts, Dunmore intended to 
capture "Lady Washington" and burn Mount Vernon. 
He did, in fact, so terrorize the planters that many moved 
their families, their cattle, plate, and many other 
possessions back into "the forest." Dunmore landed 
near Aquia Creek, burned the residence of Mr. William 
Brent, and destroyed much valuable property. Thence 
he moved to Occoquon Creek. His appearance here 
was the signal for the abandonment of the great river 
houses above this point. George Mason of Gunston 
Hall sent his family "many miles back into the coun- 
try" and he wrote General Washington that he had 
advised Mrs. Washington to do likewise: "At first 
she said, 'No, I will not desert my post,' but finally 
she did so with reluctance, rode only a few miles, and 
— plucky little woman as she is, stayed away only 
one night." But the whole river country was aroused 
and the militia of Prince William and Stafford did 
such excellent firing that the enemy was driven to their 
boats and returned on board the ships. A violent 
storm came up about this time and the fleet was 
obliged to retreat down to the bay. 

When in 1779 the United States formed a treaty of 
alliance with France, that country sent a fleet to this 
side of the Atlantic. One of these ships, bearing des- 
patches for the Congress, put in at Norfolk in August 
of that year. But the British were in its wake and 
threatened it, until it eluded them by slipping into the 
Potomac. The French ship came up river as high as 
Chantilly on the north lip of Nomini Bay where the 
captain and principal officers waited on Mr. Lee, 



328 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

confided their information to him, and he sent it across 
the river and on to Philadelphia by private carrier. 

Though the British almost continuously maintained 
a number of fighting ships in the Chesapeake during 
this war, to the nervous apprehension of the dwellers 
along the Potomac — in 1779 there were six such ves- 
sels — it would seem that it was not until the last year 
of the Revolution that they again sailed the river, ter- 
rorized the population, and entered into an encounter 
with the ships of the Potomac Navy. The first vessels 
appeared very early in the year 1781 and ascended as 
high as Mount Vernon. It would be interesting to 
know what were their threats against the home of the 
American Commander-in-Chief and the exact means 
taken by Lund Washington, in the absence of his 
employer, to save the mansion. The letter of the 
manager of the estate seems, however, to have been 
lost. One can guess at it only from the answer it 
drew. When the General received it he replied with 
a letter of regret and rebuke in which he said: 

"I am sorry to hear of your loss. I am a little sorry 
to hear of my own; but that which gives me most 
concern is, that you should go on board the enemy's 
vessels, and furnish them with refreshments. It 
would have been a less painful circumstance to me to 
have heard, that in consequence of your non-compliance 
with their request, they had burnt my House and laid 
the Plantation in ruins. You ought to have considered 
yourself as my representative, and should have reflected 
on the bad example of communicating with the enemy, 
and making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them 
with a view to preventing conflagration. It was not 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 329 

in your power, I acknowledge, to prevent them from 
sending a flag on shore, and you did right to meet it; 
but you should, in the same instant that the business 
of it was unfolded, have declared explicitly, that it was 
impossible for you to yield to the request; after which, 
if they had proceeded to help themselves by force, you 
could have but submitted; and, (being unprovided 
for defense,) this was to be preferred to a feeble oppo- 
sition, which only serves as a pretext to burn and 
destroy." 

In May the enemy ships became so bold that many 
residents abandoned their homes for interior points. 
The Potomac planters called upon Congress for defen- 
sive ships in vain. Finally they equipped a ship of 
their own and sent it out to engage the enemy. On 
July 2d this brigantine, the Ranger, a privateer of 20 
men and 7 guns, under Captain Thomas Simmons, 
sailed down river from Alexandria to hearten the popu- 
lation. Evidently the river was for the time clear 
for no one was encountered until Simmons reached the 
mouth of the St. Mary's. Here he was attacked by 
two ** refugee" barges, 30 men to each boat or barge, 
under two well known characters, Anderson and 
Barnett. A desperate fight ensued, lasting three full 
hours, at the end of which time the enemy had lost 15 
killed and 34 wounded and the disabled barges were 
obliged to sheer off. The Ranger lost only one man, 
but the captain, his second lieutenant, and several of 
the crew were severely wounded, and, as there was no 
medical ofiicer aboard, the ship put back to Alexandria 
for surgical assistance. 

This was the last military operation on the Potomac 



330 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

during the Revolution. Four months later Washing- 
ton's army sailed down the bay past the mouth of the 
river to join La Fayette at Yorktown. The Com- 
mander-in-Chief, accompanied by General-Comte de 
Rochambeau and General Comte de Chastellux, de- 
tached himself from the army at the head of the bay 
and crossed the Potomac above Mount Vernon, refresh- 
ing himself during a two-days' stop at his home. 

Pirates appeared briefly in the river in July, 1782. 
They amounted "in white & black men to an hundred 
armed men," and operated apparently from bases 
across the lower bay. They robbed and pillaged and 
fired Northumberland homes, among them Colonel 
Presley Thornton's house, all without fear of a weak 
militia; attacked a "flower loaded brig in St. Mary's 
for Boston"; and threatened to import five hundred 
armed negroes from New York to extend their piracy. 
The marauders were commanded by "Whaling & 
Penny, two most notorious Pirates." They disap- 
peared as mysteriously, and almost as quickly, as they 
came. 

One of the earliest incidents in which lay the roots 
of the War of 1812 happened on the Potomac. In the 
crew of the U.S.S. Chesapeake, which in the spring 
of 1807 was outfitting at the Navy Yard, Washington, 
were three men who claimed American citizenship 
but who were demanded as deserters by the British 
Minister. The Government at Washington refused to 
deliver them. On the 22d of June the Chesapeake 
dropped down river and was on the point of sailing 
through the capes to the Mediterranean when it 
was halted and the three men were claimed by 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 331 

British officers from H.M.S. Leopard. Again their 
dehvery was refused. Whereupon the Chesapeake was 
successfully attacked and the men seized. Out of this 
and similar subsequent seizures grew the second war 
with England. 

In the midst of the war, in the spring of 1813, a terror 
of apprehension seized the dwellers along the Potomac. 
Ships of the Royal Navy, under Sir John Bolase War- 
ren, were cruising at the mouth of the river, pillaging 
and burning plantations and villages. There was no 
available defence worth the name and, if the enemy 
was ruthless, an indictment of equal severity stands 
against the politicians who left the country undefended. 
Vagrant detachments of troops patrolled the banks 
of the lower river and occasionally met the British 
landing parties. One such patrol was based on Yeo- 
comico Creek and encamped itself about the ruins of 
Yeocomico Church. Among these soldiers was a 
New Jersey gentleman, Mr. W. L. Rogers of Princeton, 
and his interest in the abandoned edifice led to its 
restoration and to its survival to-day. This creek was 
also a base for two small American gunboats. Their 
operations were not important, but the death of the 
commander of one of them furnishes one of the pic- 
turesquely heroic incidents of our navy's history. 

On July 14, 1813, a boat party from one of Warren's 
ships entered the river and attacked a three-gun sloop, 
the Asp, commanded by Midshipman J. B. Sigourney, 
moored in Yeocomico Creek, with the odds five to one 
against the Americans. A "murderous conflict" ensued 
in which eight British and ten Americans including both 
commanders were killed or wounded. Beaten off, the 



332 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

enemy soon returned for a second attack and boarded 
the Asp. They found Sigourney, weak from his 
wounds received in the first encounter, but unwiUing 
to seek cover below, seated on deck, propped against 
the mast, animating his men with his example. A 
British marine approached him and shot him through 
the head. The Asp was fired and the enemy retreated. 
But Midshipman Henry M. McClintock, succeeding 
to the command, rallied his men, extinguished the 
flames, and put the ship again in fighting ordsr. The 
men then turned to their dead commander and buried 
him on the shore in the grounds of the Bailey family 
whose descendants have ever since attended the grave 
of the young hero. 

The next year there appeared such a fleet as had not 
been seen in the river since Braddock and his army 
arrived from England. The British had determined 
to attack the national capital and destroy its public 
buildings. To this end one section of the fleet had 
ascended the Patuxent in the month of August and, 
landing at Benedict, crossed to Bladensburg where 
they defeated the disorganized American forces and 
on the 24th descended unopposed on Washington 
City. Burning the Capitol, the White House, and 
other public buildings was an easy matter, and having 
accomplished this the enemy retreated. To the credit 
of General Ross it must be said that he had little en- 
thusiasm for this outrage on the sensibilities of the 
nation. Kidney for the crime was supplied by Admiral 
George Cockburn, a nephew of the peaceful Martin 
Cockburn of Springfield some twenty miles down river 
in Mason's Neck. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 333 

Coincident with these operations the other section 
of the enemy's fleet appeared in the Potomac. In 
this expedition, under the command of Captain James 
Alexander Gordon, R.N., were the Sea Horse, the 
EuryaluSy the Devastation, the Aetna, the Meteor, the 
Erebus, the Fairy, and the Anna Maria. By reason of 
their ignorance of the channel, of several groundings, 
of at least one severe storm and of harassment by some 
desultory land batteries, Gordon was ten days in reach- 
ing Fort Washington opposite Mount Vernon. 

It was at the time a fort in name only although 
President Washington had recommended the point on 
Warburton Manor as a proper situation for a strong 
fortification for the defense of the proposed "Fed- 
eral City." Little was done, however, until President 
Madison sent Major I'Enfant to "Fort Warburton," 
as it was then called, in May, 1813. He reported "a 
delapidated condition of the fort and the armanent" 
and "that the whole original design was bad," and made 
new plans which survive in the now antiquated bas- 
tions. General Wilkinson described Fort Washington 
as "a mere water battery of 12 or 15 guns bearing 
upon the channel in the ascent of the river, but use- 
less the moment a vessel had passed. This work was 
situated at the foot of a steep declivity, from a summit 
of which the garrison of which could have been driven 
out by musketry; but this height was protected by 
an octagonal block house, built of bricks and of two 
stories altitude which, being calculated against mus- 
ketry only, could be knocked down by a twelve pounder." 
The officer in command was one of the map-making 
or topographical corps, and it has been pleaded in 



334 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

extenuation of his conduct that, although Captain 
Napier of the Euryahis reported the guns constituted 
"a most respectable defense," there was inadequate 
ammunition. The commander believed a defense 
impossible, and, according to some authorities, acting 
under a misconstruction of orders to blow up the forti- 
fications if attacked "from the rear," he destroyed the 
works and spiked the guns, and retreated to fight with 
the land forces in the engagement at Bladensburg. 
The English were naturally astonished at the early 
silence of the fort, and without the loss of a man found 
their way open to advance on Alexandria and Wash- 
ington. 

Gordon was too late to participate in the attack on 
the capital but he ascended to Alexandria where he 
anchored on the 27th and dictated severe terms 
to the undefended city. His booty was too big to 
bear off, so he burned one vessel and, loading the 
others until their freeboards had almost disappeared, 
returned down river. On the ascent Gordon had 
found the enemy of little trouble but the elements were 
particularly nasty. As he headed south the reverse 
was true: with the weather fair he found the enemy 
snapping at his heels from many points along both 
shores. 

Commodore Porter, U.S.N., with a light battery 
of thirteen guns followed Gordon's squadron on the 
Virginia shore, attacking whenever he could get in gun 
reach. Finally, he made a last stand on the wooded 
heights of Bel voir. Gordon's ships mustered 173 guns. 
Porter achieved no decisive success, yet it is creditable 
to his leadership and the pluck of his men that with 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 335 

such odds they held the enemy up for five days before 
they swept farther down river. This action is known 
as the Battle of Belvoir. At Indian Head the British 
found Commodore O. H. Perry, U.S.N., in command of 
a land battery, but his hastily improvised equipment 
and wholly inadequate force offered them little em- 
barrassment. The only other trouble they encoun- 
tered was made by Captain John Rodgers, U.S.N., 
with the crews of two 44's which were then building. 
There were no results; the means were insufficient. 
Rodgers attempted ineffectually on two occasions to 
destroy one of the British vessels with fire ships and 
once he repelled an attack from Gordon's sailors. 
With Rodgers out of his path Gordon sailed on, out 
of the river, after twenty -three days between its banks, 
and at a cost of seven killed and thirty-five wounded. 
The expedition was futile and the losses unnecessary. 

During the long stretch of years between the second 
war with England and our own Civil War the river was 
innocent of fighting, but in the winter of 1844 it was 
the scene of a tragedy which in certain features is un- 
matched in our naval annals. In February of that 
year the new United States Frigate, Princeton, was 
brought up the Potomac and anchored off Alexandria 
for the inspection of the federal officials at the capi- 
tal. The navy was proud of the new vessel which was 
the first propeller ship built for this branch of the ser- 
vice. It was proud, too, of the great gun, Peacemaker, 
a 225-pounder, mounted on the Princeton s deck. On 
February 28th a large party of government officials, 
including the President of the United States and his 
cabinet, accepted Commodore Stockton's invitation 



336 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

to spend the day on the new ship of war and cruise a 
short way down the river. When opposite Mount 
Vernon a salute to George Washington was fired from 
the Peacemaker. Later, when opposite the mouth of 
Broad Creek on the return trip, Commodore Stockton 
consented to fire the great gun a second time. A nu- 
merous party was on deck. As the gun was fired the 
breech was blown off and this end was split in halves. 
The toll of dead and wounded was not so significant 
in numbers as in the character of the victims. Among 
the killed were: Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of State; 
Thomas W. Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy; Com- 
modore Kennon of the Navy; Representative Virgil 
Maxey of Maryland, then lately returned from diplo- 
matic duty at The Hague; Representative Sykes of 
New Jersey, and Mr. Gardiner, a New York legislator. 
President Tyler directed that the dead be brought to 
the White House whence they were taken for burial 
on March 2d. 

On the outbreak of the Civil War the Potomac took 
on a new role. The Confederates considered it the 
boundary between the northern and the southern states. 
The Federal Government refused to acknowledge the 
existence of separate groups of states or even that the 
river was to be the boundary between the two armies. 
So far as the Potomac above the Falls is concerned, 
history seems impartial, for the waters were crossed 
time and again by both armies. Thousands, hundreds 
of thousands, of the blue soldiers and the gray soldiers 
passed over it by ford and bridge and barge. The 
Potomac of the landings played a comparatively minor 
but interesting part in the great struggle. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 337 

The defense of Washington attracted troops from the 
North early m 1861. Conferate sympathizers be- 
yond Baltimore destroyed the rail connections, and a 
large proportion of the army of defense was obliged to 
steam down the bay from Perryville and up the Poto- 
mac to the capital. The Confederates placed bat- 
teries on the heights of Arlington and on the hills on 
that side of the river both above and below Washington. 
Fort Foote on the Maryland shore just south of Alex- 
andria, Fort Washington, and several of the down- 
river Maryland points were fortified by the Federal 
Administration, and armed vessels of the Federal Navy, 
known as "the Potomac Flotilla," took up a position 
near the mouth based on St. Mary*s River. However 
much it may have appeared that a significant portion 
of the war was going to be fought on the Potomac, 
that was not to be. 

Virginia approved her ordinance of Secession on 
May 23d. This was the signal for the most extensive 
and decisive military activity on the river during this 
war. Simultaneously the next day Union troops 
crossed the Aqueduct and Long Bridges at Washington 
and cleared the Confederates from Arlington and the 
adjacent hills, and Union troops landed at Alexandria 
under the protection of the gunboat Pawnee and oc- 
cupied that city. The only other significant Confed- 
erate defenses on tidewater were at and in the neigh- 
bourhood of Aquia Creek, Potomac Creek, Mathias 
Point, and Coan River, and there were frequent ex- 
changes between these batteries and the Federal gun- 
boats during the summer and autumn of 1861. 

The batteries at Aquia Creek were important to the 



338 POTOMAC LANDIxXGS 

defense of the northern ternnnus of the railroad to 
Fredericksburg and Rielimond. Here took place the 
first naval engagement of this war on the river, at the 
end of May in 1861, when the U.S. gunboats Thomas 
Freeborn^ Anacostia^ Pawnee, and Resolute made an 
ineffectual effort to destroy the Aquia batteries. The 
next year the control of this creek passed without 
struggle into the hands of the Federals, and in the 
Battle of Fredericksburg they were reinforced by troops 
brought down river to this landing point for transfer 
to the railroad. After that battle the Federals went 
into winter camp along the railroad north of Fred- 
ericksburg, basing on Aquia Creek whence they re- 
ceived supplies by the river. 

The Mathias Point defenses were troublesome to the 
Potomac Flotilla as they provided security to Confed- 
erates and their sympathizers crossing the river at this 
point and were believed to be a signal base in communi- 
cation with Maryland. On June 27th the Thomas 
Freeborn, Commander James H. Ward, U.S.N., and 
the Reliance covered a landing party of fifty men at 
Mathias Point. They found themselves overwhelmed 
by fifteen companies of volunteers but eflfected an 
orderly retreat, and the engagement would be scarcely 
worth mentioning if it were not made conspicuous by 
the first death of a naval officer in action in this war. 
Commander Ward. 

President Lincoln and those about him witnessed one 
of the first poignant spectacles of the war July 22d, 
the day after the defeat of the Union troops in the first 
important battle of the Civil War at Bull Run, the small 
tributary of the Potomac feeding Occoquon Creek. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 339 

The defeated army began to march in from Virginia 
before dawn. All day long the ranks of the men in blue 
defiled across the river over the Long Bridge. All day 
long and far into the night, under a leaden sky and 
through a drizzling rain, the tramp, tramp, tramp of 
feet and the hollow rumble of wheels echoed over the 
water. "But the hour, the day, the night passed," 
wrote Walt ^Vliitman, "and whatever returns, an hour, 
a day, a night like that can never return. The Presi- 
dent, recovering himself, begins that very night — sternly, 
rapidly sets about the task of reorganizing his forces, and 
placing himself in position for future and surer work. . . 
He endured that hour, that day, bitterer than gall — in- 
deed a crucifixion day — but it did not conquer him — he 
unflinchingly stemmed it and resolved to lift himself 
and the Union out of it." 

Throughout the war the river was the scene of thou- 
sands of secret passages between loyal Maryland and 
seceding Virginia. Along the left bank, however, 
were the homes of many whose sympathies were on the 
other side. Their houses were secret havens for 
despatch bearers, spies, and carriers of contraband. 
On many a clear night lights twinkled from windows 
and from landings on one side with a meaning under- 
stood on the other. And when the night was less clear 
and a fog obscured the distance or a rain came with its 
protecting patter, a boat would glide out from shore, 
oars muffled, into the enveloping mist. More often 
than not the other shore was reached in safety. Too 
often, however, so the victims believed, their seeming 
success was intercepted by the hail of a flotilla guard, 
which, unless answered promptly, was followed by the 



340 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

spitting of musketry or the red flame of a ship's howit- 
zer. Then the command: *' Hands up and stop rowing!" 
a hurried scramble to the quarter deck, and an exchange 
of wits which ended somewhere in the tragic latitude 
between a return to the interrupted skiff and a bandage 
over the eyes, a flash from the muskets of the firing 
squad, and a dull drop to the deck of another spy caught 
in work which was dastardly or heroic by points of view. 

Three times the Potomac was the pathway of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. His last and probably his most signifi- 
cant trip was made in the spring of 1865 when he 
embarked in Washington on the River Queen and steam- 
ed the length of the Potomac and into the James to join 
Grant below Richmond just before it fell. 

As the President passed Port Tobacco Creek there 
rocked at its moorings just inside its mouth a boat which 
was intended to play an important part in a scheme of 
abduction which was laid but never hatched. The 
plan briefly stated by Thomas A. Jones, who Hved on 
the river and whose part in one of its most picturesque 
incidents will presently appear, was this: "The Presi- 
dent, when he went for his customary evening drive 
toward the Navy Yard, was to be seized and either 
chloroformed or gagged, and driven quietly out of the 
city. If in crossing the Navy Yard bridge the carriage 
should be stopped, the captors would point to the 
President and drive on. The carriage was to be 
escorted out of the city by men dressed in Federal 
uniforms. Relays of fast horses were in readiness all 
along the route, and a boat in which to take the captive 
across the Potomac was kept on the west side of Port 
Tobacco Creek, about three and a half miles below the 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 341 

town of the same name. . . . The idea of the 
conspirators was that with such a hostage in its power 
the Confederacy would be able to dictate terms to the 
North. . . . There were quite a number of persons 
in this abduction conspiracy; prominent among whom 
were the actor, John Wilkes Booth, and his friend, 
John H. Surratt. ... I do not think the abduc- 
tion plan was given up until Booth killed his victim 
instead of capturing him. " 

In the after cabin of the River Queen, so well known 
to all later dwellers on the river, the President, while 
on the James, gathered the military leaders of the Union, 
among them General Grant, General Sherman, and 
Admiral Porter, in one of his most famous though in- 
formal war conferences. He returned to Washington 
as he had left it. Those days on the Potomac were 
Lincoln's last outside of the capital at the head of its 
tidal waters. Four days later he was dead by a bullet 
from a weapon in the hands of Booth. 

When Booth escaped from Ford's Theatre, the scene 
of the assassination, he fled across the city to the Anacos- 
tia branch of the river where he was joined by one David 
E. Herold who was to guide him to the boat moored in 
Port Tobacco Creek by which he intended to make 
his escape into Virginia and anticipated security. In 
leaping from the President's box, however, he had 
fractured one of his legs and the pain it gave him on 
his way to Port Tobacco caused him and his companion 
to turn eastward for treatment at the home of Dr. 
Samuel A. Mudd, near Bryantown. There the fugi- 
tives spent the night and in the morning hurried forward 
on horseback warned by the word that soldiers were 



342 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

as near as Bryantown searching for the assassin. After 
hiding for six days and nights in woods on the Cox farm 
on the highland beyond the head of Pope's Creek, they 
were on Friday night led by the Jones quoted above to 
a thirty-foot rowboat of his which was hidden in Pope's 
Creek and were directed on their way through the 
darkness of a moonless night to Upper Machodac 
Creek across the river. But a flood tide was running, 
too strong for one pair of oars, and Booth's boat was 
swept up river and back on the Maryland shore west 
of Port Tobacco Creek near Nanjemoy Stores. The 
fugitives hid during Saturday. In the night following 
they succeeded in crossing the river and landing on the 
Virginia shore where sympathizers took them to Dr. 
Richard Stuart at Cedar Grove. His reception was 
not cordial, and Booth pressed on south across the 
Rappahannock to the home of Richard H. Garnett in 
whose barn he was shot to death by a Federal soldier. 

The final incident in this historic tragedy carries 
to that point of land on the southern extremity of 
Washington City between the Anacostia River and the 
harbour, on which for scores of years have stood the 
buildings of the Washington Barracks. Far back in 
the trees, until 1868, stood the old penitentiary in 
which Booth's fellow conspirators were confined during 
their trial and near where, on this same reservation, 
they were hanged till dead on July 7, 18G5. 

In the recent Great War the part played by the river 
included more than the setting it furnished at Washing- 
ton for the vital decisions at the Capitol and the White 
House which determined the role which the United 
States should play. The entire upper half of tidewater 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 343 

was a hive of preparation whose results were felt by 
the enemy more than three thousand miles away. In 
addition to Camp Meigs and American University 
Camp in the City of Washington, there was an im- 
mense officers' training camp at Fort Meyers adjacent 
to Arlington; an extensive flying base on the Ana- 
costia River; Belvoir and contiguous lands became 
Camp Humphreys for the training of army engineers, 
with a capacity of over 27,000 men; Quantico was 
transformed into the Marine Corps' principal and 
permanent training station with a capacity of over 
12,000 men; and the Naval Proving Grounds at Indian 
Head continued to play the peculiar role which has dis- 
tinguished it since it was founded in 1892. Here has 
been tested all the armour plate which has found its 
way into the hulls of our sea fighters. Here every one 
of the guns that stands to-day on the decks of our men- 
of-war was first tested, and the hills that bank the 
river hereabout have echoed to more great -gun fire 
probably than has any other spot under United States 
jurisdiction. The monster guns that found their way 
to the battle line in France, transferred from decks to 
mobile railway mounts, as much to the surprise of 
our allies as of the enemy, first set the hills about 
Indian Head reverberating with their trial detonations 
as the shells screamed down the river range as far as 
Potomac Creek. Another similar military operating 
base which grew out of the last war was the newer 
proving ground on the Virginia shore south of Mathias 
Point named for Admiral Dahlgren. "Its range is even 
more remarkable than that at Indian Head where the 
whole course of the shell is over the Potomac in full 



344 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

view from the gun. The main Dahlgren Range takes 
an easterly course across the peninsula between the 
Potomac and the Chesapeake, and shells fired from 
this base fall in the bay at points unseen from the gun, 
directed by spotters on the Bay who also signal when 
the waters are safely cleared for action. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The River To-day — From Landing to Landing — Remains, Ruins, 
and Restorations — Where All Postal Cancelling Stamps Are 
Made — Fishing for Champagne — An Aeroplane Pioneer — 
Ship Ceremonies Passing Mount Vernon — Panorama about 
the Last Landing. 

THE Potomac of to-day can be truly known only 
by the pilgrim who steers his boat into the broad 
mouth and rides the whole course of the tide 
until the force of the "ffreshes" halts him at the foot 
of the monument to that son of the river who is the 
nation's greatest glory. 

However high such a traveller may ferret the mean- 
ders of each particular creek, however often he may 
tie up at the landings and tramp the shores, he will 
see least if he looks only for what the waterside now 
presents to the eye. Often he must call history to 
kindle the imagination, for to-day the river is a blend 
of old and new, of past and present, of ruin and res- 
toration and modern magnificence. Along nearly all 
its length it is the past which will engage the greater 
interest and furnish the keener delights. Only at the 
head of tidewater, at the last and latest landing, is the 
present paramount, a visible tangible climax to the 
three-century -long story. 

Since such a proper acquaintance begins where the 
river ends, such a pilgrim to the Potomac will approach 
it from the Chesapeake between the distant beacons of 

345 



346 rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

Smith Point on the left and Point Lookout on the 
right. The distance between the low wooded shores 
behind these lighthouses is so great, varying between 
six and seven miles, that no details are visible from mid- 
stream. However, if a landing is made behind Point 
Lookout a monument will be found there among the 
pines on the sandy spit which marks the site of a 
Federal prison during the Civil War. It is more inter- 
esting at first to follow this Maryland shore westward 
some ten miles to the mouth of the first really large 
estuary on this side, the St. Mary's River. The course 
is past a shore which includes the manors of St. Michael, 
St. Gabriel, Trinity, and, on the point between Smith's 
Creek and St. Mary's, of St. Elizabeth. 

Entering the St. Mary's River the course is due north 
between more intimate banks which roll back gently 
to heights of nearly one hundred feet. Seen when the 
trees are clothed with their foliage and the fields are 
green with growing crops, the beauty of the valley is 
witness to Captain Harry Fleet's judgment in leading 
Lord Baltimore's pilgrims to this spot for their earliest 
settlement, and to Father White's report that "the 
place abounds not alone with profit, but also with 
pleasure." Fort Point, now long without its fort, is 
inconspicuous just inside the mouth on the right; 
Priest's Point with the Jesuit residence defines itself 
rather more conspicuously on the south lip of the mouth 
of St. Inigoes' Creek, on whose south bank may be seen 
Cross Manor house; and on the left is the mouth of 
Carthagena Creek and above, snuggling in the tree, is 
Porto Bello house, two names which recall the West 
Indian adventures of the young Potomac colonists. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 347 

The point of greatest interest, however, lies dead ahead 
where a landing beckons invitingly from the right 
bank. 

This landing heads on the shore where once stood St. 
Mary's City. This pastoral point was once the focus of 
the civil life of all Maryland. At anchor in the waters 
before the city rode vessels from all parts of Maryland, 
from the other colonies, from the West Indies, and from 
England. Hither to court, council, and assembly came 
the colonists from beyond the head of tidewater Poto- 
mac, even beyond the head of the Chesapeake itself. 
To-day the level green fields edged with forest growths 
give no trace of the once-important and considerable 
colonial capital. The State House, the Palace of St. 
John's, the jail, the taverns, shops, and mansions are as 
completely gone as if they had never been there. Even 
the name of the old city has disappeared. The landing 
is known as Brome's, after the neighbouring family. 
On the point where stood the historic Mulberry Tree, 
the State House, and the buildings at the west end of 
Middle Street are now : a shaft to the memory of Gover- 
nor Leonard Calvert and the first adventurers of Lord 
Baltimore's colony; Trinity Episcopal Church in the 
midst of the graves of more recent worthies; and the 
buildings of St. Mary's Seminary, a state memorial on 
the spot where civilization and toleration were first 
planted on the Potomac. 

On the Virginia shore directly opposite the mouth 
of the St. Mary's is Coan River, the first important 
estuary above Smith Point. Its shores are low, but its 
waters admit steamers directly at the bank-side, which 
is no less fortunate than curious for the Coan is so 



348 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

narrow that a steamer can turn between its banks only 
under the nicest helmsmanship. There is in this 
neighbourhood a suggestion of Holland as the sails of the 
schooners and the black funnels and white cabin-decks 
of the steamers appear to be moving through green 
fields as they follow the winding channel between the 
low banks. On the first elevation to the east in the 
shadow of its sheltering trees may be seen the pillars 
of Mantua, step-child of old Northumberland House 
of earliest days. There are no traces of those first 
settlers on the Virginia shore of the Potomac who came 
from Maryland to the banks of the Coan. 

Here and in the sinuous tentacles of the Yeocomico, 
only six miles west, is the heart of the river's fishing 
and oyster trade. The landings are numerous, and 
evidence of the staple product is revealed in the minia- 
ture white hills of bleached oyster shells along the 
shores and, on some of the points, in giant skeleton 
spools big as the fishermen's cottages, on which they 
wind and dry their nets. The most considerable water- 
side village in the first fifty miles of the Virginia shore 
is Kinsale, hidden around the sweeps and behind the 
numerous points in the West Yeocomico. On the south 
bank of this estuary may be seen the monument which 
perpetuates the memory of brave Sigourney of the Asp, 
above whose grave it rises. To the west of the Yeoco- 
mico but screened from it by the forest may be found 
that most venerable of all Potomac houses of worship, 
Yeocomico Church. At the head of the South Yeoco- 
mico, some six miles from the Potomac proper, is Lodge 
Landing, whose distinction is that here have lived and 
operated the father and sons who for many years have 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 349 

made their impression on every single bit among the 
myriad of items mailed in these United States, for here 
they have cut all the dies and all the type for all the 
cancelling stamps and all the dating stamps in use in 
every post office under the American postal system. 

The intensive fishing of Chesapeake Bay and the 
Potomac River, without requisite restocking, has 
diminished the value of the fishing shores above the 
Yeocomico to a fraction of their earlier worth. Above 
this point stakes do still protrude above the water in 
long lines across the channel banks, indicative of the 
submerged trap nets, and at night during the season 
when the shad runs the shimmer of the gillers' lanterns 
on the floats at the net ends still indicate that some in- 
dividual efforts are made to harvest this native of the 
river. As a significant industry, however, fishing is 
now confined largely to the waters nearer the mouth 
of the river. If the shad and sturgeon are no longer 
present in the upper reaches in great quantities there 
is nevertheless an interesting and extensive variety of 
fish as far up even as the waters in the neighbourhood 
of the District of Columbia. The Biological Society of 
Washington records the actual presence here, some in 
numerous species, of sturgeon, herring, shad, white 
perch, sun-fish, bass, perch, darters, catfish, eel, lamprey, 
and brook trout. In rare instances salmon, shark, 
and porpoises have appeared in the Potomac. 

Returning to the channel of the great river and 
making a westerly course, the voyager sights a light- 
house conspicuous on the Maryland shore in the 
distance above the broad, wind-chopped waters. It 
stands on Piney Point at the southern end of flat 



350 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

land which once was Evelynton Manor. A stark, 
barrack-hke hotel and cottages parallelirg a hedge of 
pines disclose its modern character of waterside sum- 
mer resort. At all seasons, however, Piney Point 
marks what, in one sense, is to the steamboat fraternity 
"the mouth of the river," for it is here that the in- 
coming vessel picks up its pilot to thread it up the 
tricky channel of the tidal course and here it drops 
him on its way out to the Bay or beyond. For pilotage 
between Piney Point and landings above a pilot is paid 
a fixed sum per foot of the towed ship's draught. 

Farther west and across the river on the still low 
Virginia shore is Ragged Point Light warning vessels 
off the shoals about the land that once belonged to that 
gorgeous braggart, Dick Cole. Behind the shore from 
Yeocomico to Ragged Point are the remnants of the 
plantations of Sandy Point, Springfield, Wilton, and 
Pecatone. Northward on the Maryland elevation be- 
hind the first bottom lands stands Mulberry Fields, 
more easily picked out in the reflection of the sharp rays 
of the afternoon sun. Lower Machodac opens on the 
nearer immediate left, but the surviving Glebe house on 
its banks belongs to the neighbourhood which clusters 
about Nomini Creek next above. The entrance to 
Nomini is broad, and about it stood that notable group 
of houses whose life Fithian, naive as Boswell, did so 
much to keep vivid. On the left at the water's level 
may be seen Bushfield, one of the old Washington 
estates. The mansion that housed the gay colonials 
disappeared years ago but there is a beautiful re- 
placement on the original foundations. The high 
ground on the right is the site of Chantilly, home of 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 351 

Richard Henry Lee, "the Cicero of the Revolution." 
Entering the narrows of the creek itself are found the 
sites of Nomini Church, of Hickory Hill of the Turber- 
villes and, with no other survival than an ancient 
avenue of poplars, of Nomini Hall of Councillor Robert 
Carter. A short drive east is the post village of Hague 
about which are the lands of Lee Hall and Mount 
Pleasant, and in the burying ground of Burnt House 
Field is the tomb of Richard Lee, son of the immigrant. 
A road to the west of Nomini leads off toward the 
home of all the Lees at Stratford Hall. This great 
baronial pile, so rich in memories priceless to Virginia 
and to the nation, still stands supported by its village 
of brick outbuildings awaiting the hand that will restore 
it to its original splendour. Newly grown forests cut off 
the view of the Potomac, but potentially no house has 
a finer command of the water, standing back on the 
heights of Nomini Cliffs, before which the river spreads 
like a great lake across whose waters the Maryland 
hills are bathed in the blues and purples of great dis- 
tance. 

Between Nomini Creek and the head of Bretton Bay 
there is a ferry which puts Westmoreland at one end of 
a fine Maryland motor road and within sixty miles 
of Washington. Crossing the river here the Maryland 
shores are scarcely less historic than those in Virginia. 
At the head of the corkscrew course of Bretton Bay 
behind its thin screen of foliage is Leonardtown, putting 
its best foot forward with the interesting, somewhat 
Italian fagade of Tudor Hall in sight on the high bank 
above the landing. Leonardtown is the county seat 
of St. Mary's County and the most important com- 



352 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

inunity in southern Maryland. The long narrow 
peninsula stringing between Bretton Bay and St. 
Clement's Bay is Newton Neck or Beggar's Neck, the 
lands of Little Bretton Manor. The Jesuits have a 
conspicuous church and residence here with what 
significance the curious may find in its being opposite 
Protestant Point, and evidence remains of that old 
burying ground which William Bretton donated "with 
the hearty good liking" of Temperence, his wife. 

At the mouth of St. Clement's Bay the remnant of 
Heron Island disappears at high tide, but near by and 
overshadowing it is Blackistone Island, originally St. 
Clement's, the Plymouth Rock of Maryland, anchorage 
of the Ark and the Dove, where the first colonists on the 
river awaited the issue of Governor Calvert's voyage 
in the pinnaces to the Emperor of the Piscataways. 
This island together with the smaller islands beyond to 
the west were all a part of the vast St. Clement's Manor 
which covered so much of the neck between St. Clem- 
ent's Bay and the Wicomico. On this neck on the 
brow of the highlands of the Wicomico is Bushwood, 
and beyond it stood Thomas Notley's manor house. 
A cruise up this estuary discovers many interests. 
Chaptico Bay reaches eastward with the spire of Christ 
Church in the waterside village of Chaptico. A 
tradition has grown up in the neighbourhood that Sir 
Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's, London, 
designed this edifice. The Wren tradition attaches 
to other colonial buildings in tidewater, but in some 
way it has become somewhat detached from its sup- 
porting evidence and can be offered only for what it 
may be found to be worth. Tramping the low, uneven 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 353 

roads about the marshy head of the Wicomico one re- 
calls that here was the terminus of that first mail route 
between Philadelphia and the South. Here was the 
trail of Perry and his pouches, until he laid them down 
and laid himself beside them unequal to the hard 
struggle with the elements, those underfoot doubtless 
more formidable than those overhead. 

Returning south on the Wicomico, a short cut up the 
Potomac for shallow-draft boats is found behind 
Cobb's Island through the waters of Neale's Sound. 
There is an echo in this latter name. It is the only 
surviving reminder of that great family whose 
Wollestan Manor lands lay along this shore, and re- 
calls Captain James Neale and his wife — he a king's 
agent in the Spanish peninsula and she a lady-in-waiting 
to a queen. It seems indeed to have been on the cards 
at one time that Wollestan should become the asylum 
of this same Queen Henrietta Maria. Shortly after 
the beheading of her husband, Charles I, she was on 
the point of sailing with the new governor of Lord 
Baltimore's colony to the Potomac, and no likelier refuge 
could be imagined than the home of her lady-in-waiting 
and her husband's agent. At the same time Maryland 
narrowly escaped coming under the jurisdiction of one 
who claimed to be the natural son of William Shake- 
speare, for that new governor referred to was Sir 
William Davenant who set sail for the Potomac but 
turned his ship back. 

In the centuries intervening since Wollestan passed, 
another generation of houses has arisen and aged under 
mellowing traditions. Among the survivals here are 
Hard Bargain, Mount Republic, West Hatton, and 



354 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

Charleston. The last is at Wicomico waterside and 
its richest traditions cluster about the days of the first 
half of the nineteenth century when its owner, Daniel 
Jenifer, at one time our minister to Austria, varied his 
long absences farther up river in his seat in the Con- 
gress with card-playing, hard-drinking house-parties. 
Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and other congressional 
cronies came down to Charleston for these larks. 
"Fishing trips" they called them. Jenifer did not 
disappoint them of at least one "catch." It is still 
repeated in the neighbourhood how, after a night at 
cards, the host would suggest that the poles and lines 
were waiting for them at the landing. At dawn they 
would adjourn from the card tables to the shore. Each 
found his pole and line in position, the hook baited and 
in the water. On signal, all hauled in, confident of a 
catch, and there were no disappointments. Securely 
hooked at the end of each line was a bottle of cham- 
pagne. 

It is from this point upward that the Potomac's 
interest is increasingly a blend of the present with the 
remote past and of all the years between. The vast 
neck between the Wicomico and the great river is now 
almost wholly united in the ownership of Mr. Robert 
Crain, whose home. Mount Victoria, crowns the hills, 
and whose block of fifteen thousand acres is a model of 
a modern stock farm and more nearly than any other 
place on the river approximates in size at least some of 
the larger colonial plantations. 

The entrance to Pope's Creek on the Virginia side is 
behind a marshy bank, narrow and hard to find. But 
the beauty of the land-locked waters repays a visit. 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 355 

and here is found a shaft which reminds the visitor that 
in Wakefield House, long since disappeared from the 
waterside, was born the boy who was later to become 
"first in the hearts of his fellow citizens." Five miles 
above, at modern Colonial Beach, whose cottages and 
hotels and shore are dedicated to the excursionist, is the 
landing nearest to the birthplaces of two other presi- 
dents, James Munroe who was born on the shore of the 
Potomac and James Madison who was born a few 
miles farther back in the country at Port Conway in 
Westmoreland County. 

Above this point the river contracts to a width of 
two to three miles. The detonation of the guns of 
Dahlgren, as their shells screech overland to their target 
in the Chesapeake, calls attention to this great Proving 
Ground just below Mathias Point. At the water's edge 
on the opposite shore, where the hills open slightly to 
admit the tide into Pope's Creek in Maryland, may 
be seen the smoke of the only locomotives to reach 
this side of the Potomac below the District of Colum-' 
bia. Here it was that John Wilkes Booth's boat crept 
out from the dark shore on the night that the assassin 
fled across the river to southern hospitality and found 
retribution's bullet at the hands of the Union soldier. 

Although the river doubles back sharply on Mathias 
Point in a southwesterly direction, it appears, as one 
sails up with the tide, before turning Mathias, to ex- 
tend indefinitely toward the north. The illusion is 
created by the long stretch of Port Tobacco Creek. At 
the head of this estuary are the remnants of Port To- 
bacco Town, once the county seat, with crumbling 
hints of its earlier distinction. This spectral village 



356 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

centres in a notable group of celebrated houses, among 
which still stand St. Thomas IVIanor, La Grange, Rose 
Hill, Habredeventure, and the restoration of Mul- 
berry Grove. 

Beyond Mathias Point light the right shore is 
Nanjemoy neighbourhood and the left is Chotank of 
olden times. The Virginia river bottom lands are 
broad and push the house-dotted highlands far back 
from the water's edge. These hills are haunted by 
generations of Fitzhughs, from plate-loving William of 
Bedford to his descendants of to-day who sit proudly 
under the portraits of their ancestors, but few of the 
colonial houses remain. Discussing the soil on these 
hills one of the present-day planters, surveying the far- 
flung river valley from his hill-top portico, ignoring the 
incomparable beauty of the scene and mindful only of 
the worn-out condition of the soil, complained softly, 
the nearest thing to a twinkle possible in his tired eyes: 
*'The land is so poor that if they don't put fertilizer in a 
man's grave with him he won't come up on the last 
day." 

These are not the only sections of the river shores 
which reflect the golden past but faintly, like the faded 
effigies in the old daguerreotypes. However, the fine 
lines, the inherent distinction, and the traces of the 
colouring of the original may still frequently be seen. 
For many eyes, indeed, age has not merely softened but 
beautified many aspects of the survivals. While much 
is missing. Time seems to have thrown a glow akin to a 
halo about that which remains. 

Turning Maryland Point there are at the mouth of 
Potomac and Aquia creeks reminders of the Indians 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 357 

who gave the river its name, of generations of colonial 
worthies whose seats stood hereabouts, and, especially 
in the crumbling piles of the old landings, of Civil War 
fighting for possession of the railroad head before and 
after the battle at near-by Fredericksburg. Above 
Aquia the railroad abandons the forests and comes 
intimately to the river's edge, holding its course there 
almost continuously until it disappears again about 
fifteen miles north behind the waters of Occoquon 
Bay. The vast Marine Barracks of Quantico dis- 
tinguish the middle distance. These waters, how- 
ever, have an earlier though still modern interest, be- 
cause it was to this stretch, off Widewater, that Presi- 
dent Cleveland came to fish and Professor Langley 
came to make aeroplane history when his model of a 
heavier-than-air plane flew three thousand feet in one 
minute and a half. His succeeding effort here to fly 
the full-sized man-carrying plane built after this model 
failed to rise and broke the hope of this great scientist. 
But later Curtiss demonstrated the fundamental correct- 
ness of Langley 's theories by reassembling this same 
machine and driving it into the air. To-day this 
identical Langley machine hangs in the National 
Museum up river at Washington, an enshrined pioneer 
of aviation. 

At the head of Quantico Creek are the remains of 
old Dumfries, hidden from the water but strung along 
either side of the motor road which parallels the river 
on this side from Washington to Fredericksburg. The 
promontory three miles above, behind which the 
trains rush as they leave the river's edge, is Freestone 
Point, on which stood Leesylvania, birthplace of General 



558 POTOMAC LANDINGS 

"Light-Horse Harry" Lee and, during the nineteenth 
century, one of the Potomac homes of the Fairfaxes. 
The opening on the opposite side of the river is Matta- 
women Creek to whose landings the leisurely steamers 
still nose a way. On its shore are the grave and monu- 
ment of General William Smallwood. Along the 
hillsides next above Mattawomen is the Naval Proving 
Ground of Indian Head, easily distinguished at the 
point where two tall chimneys prick the horizon. The 
creek above Freestone Point is Occoquon, object of 
Davis's rhapsodies, and at the falls is the ancient village 
of Occoquon still clinging to the rocky hillsides. 

Above these places the river, along a stretch of about 
fifteen miles, describes a tall slender letter S. On the 
left in the first bend is Mason's Neck. Gunston Hall 
on the highland is rarely visible except to a practised 
eye. More conspicuous to the passer-by, after turning 
the Neck, on the same ridge and just above the meeting 
of the river and Gunston Cove, are the white galleries 
of Overlook, built shortly after the middle of the last 
century. At the head of Gunston Cove are Pohick 
Creek and Accotink Creek, Washington's parish church 
hidden among the trees in the hills above the former 
creek from which it takes its name, and the post village 
of Accotink at the head of the latter creek of its name. 
Looking back from Gunston Cove, in rounding the red 
buoy which marks the channel bank. Mount Aventine 
may be seen on the Maryland hills. 

The banks again grow closer from here up, and the 
high places reach near to the water's edge. The shores 
are often not more than a mile apart. The peninsula 
between Gunston Cove and Dogue Creek is Belvoir, 



POTOMAC LANDINGS 359 

the Fairfax home in colonial days, but to-day the 
site of Camp Humphreys of the army engineers. Under 
its green heights was fought that battle between 
Gordon's ships and Porter's batteries in 1814. On the 
hills at the head of Dogue Creek, plainly visible under 
a clear sky, is the long front of Woodlawn Mansion, and 
behind the conspicuous landing on the Maryland shore 
still stands Marshall Hall, a quaint old seat, indistinct 
among the trees, almost overlooked among the gaudy 
structures of a modern pleasure resort. Above Mar- 
shall Hall at the tip of the S and close to the water is 
a station of the United States Fisheries Commission 
at Bryan Point where shad and yellow perch are propa- 
gated at the rate of hundreds of millions a year. From 
the time that Belvoir is passed, however, all other 
legitimate interests are naturally obscured by the 
village of white buildings in the trees on the heights 
above the white landing house on the Virginia side. It 
is America's most venerated shrine. Mount Vernon. 
All water craft pay tribute as they pass the home and 
last resting place of Washington. On commercial 
ships a bell at least is tolled. Aboard a ship of the 
United States Navy, between sunrise and sunset, a full 
guard is paraded, the bell is tolled, the colours are 
dropped to half mast, the bugle sounds "Taps", the 
guard presents arms, and officers and men on deck 
stand at attention and salute. 

The course past Mount Vernon is almost due east. 
A promontory divides the waters ahead. It is Fort 
Washington, already obsolete, on the site of once gay 
Warburton Manor of Washington's "neighbour Dig- 
ges." The reach to the right is Piscataway Creek 



3G0 rOTOMAC LANDINGS 

to which Leonard Calvert and his party came in their 
two pinnaces to consult the Indian emperor before they 
turned back to found their capital at St. Mary's. On 
the left, behind a long skeleton of an abandoned landing, 
are the screened guns of Fort Hunt, upper tidewater's 
actual protection from invasion by the river. 

The turn north around the long arm of tottering old 
piles on the left reveals a straight stretch of river for a 
distance of twelve miles direct to the head of tidewater 
and to the last of the landings. In the middle dis- 
tance is Alexandria, old and new, still the largest city of 
northern Virginia. As its wharves, warehouses, spires, 
dwellings, trees, and streets come abreast and slip into 
the wake, the horizon ahead develops the familiar out- 
lines of the circling panorama of our national capital, 
the City of Washington. 

The high horizon lifts the landmarks in silhouette 
against the sky. On the western hills gleam the white 
portico of old Arlington House and the new marbles of 
the Memorial Amphitheatre dedicated to the nation's 
soldier and sailor dead. Beyond are the gray spires of 
Georgetown University, Above the treetops at the 
water's edge rises the Lincoln Memorial, the new 
Parthenon of the western world. To the east the 
lantern of the Library of Congress gives back to the 
sun the glint of its own golden rays, and even more 
prominent is the familiar white dome of the Capitol of 
the Republic. But centred on the river, reaching 
heavenward above every other detail of the environ- 
ment, simple and superb, is the monument dedicated to 
the memory of Washington himself, father of his country 
and greatest of the many great sons of the Potomac. 





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POTOMAC LANDINGS 361 

There is a subtle irony and a curious inadvertent 
appropriateness in the fact that the national capital, 
bartered in an irrelevant political deal, should have 
been set down at the head of tidewater Potomac. The 
river seems to acknowledge the beautiful city as its 
mistress, and to bring its homage to her feet. By day 
and year and decade its tides rise and rise as far as, but 
no farther than, the wide -flung flowering hem of her 
mantle of green. Here the queenly city stands, the 
culmination and the symbol of the history that was 
enacted along the river during three centuries which 
produced the finest flavour of our colonial civilization 
and an unsurpassed group of political philosophers 
and patriots in support of the river's own Richard 
Henry Lee, George Mason, and George Washington. 



THE END 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abingdon, 109, 135, 171. 

Accopatough, li. 

Accotink, 359; Creek or Bay, 18, 19, 358. 

Actors, 145, 147, 278, 302-4. 

Addison family, 64, 110, 145, 177, 178, 

242, 291. 
Addison Manor, 110. 
Alexander family, 106, 127. 
Alexandria, 54. 55, 60, 62, 85. 103. 110, 

133. 134, 135. 146-7, 155, 156, 164. 

178, 188, 211, 215. 273, 274, 285, 

291, 294, 295, 297, 299, 301, 311, 314, 

324, 325. 326, 329, 334, 335. 337, 360. 
Alexandria County, 54, 62. 
Allen. Thomas. 195. 
Allerton. Isaac, 116, 229. 
Alsop. George, quoted, 41, 77, 82, 200, 

205. 
Anacostia River, 39, 61, 109, 110, 135. 

305. 
Anacostin TowTie. 137. 
Analostin Island. 75, 132. 
Annapolis. 92, 107. 109. 140, 188. 235. 

273. 274. 275. 277, 312. 313, 316. 
Aquia Church, 60. 61. 243, 246. 
Aquia Creek, 16, 17, 39, 52, 71. 129, 130, 

142, 298, 338, 356. 
Architecture. 149-167, 171. 
Argoll. Capt. Sam'l. 22-24, 26, 39, 43. 
Ark, The, 27, 28, 55. 62. 81, 96, 352. 
Arlington, 62, 109. 135, 337, 360; see 

List of Illustrations. 
Arlington County, 54. 62. 
Arlington, Earl of, 70. 
Ashton family, 114. 
Ashton, Col. Peter, 127. 
As-p, U. S. S., 331-2, 348. 
Assembly, first Maryland, 32. 
"Athens of Virginia," 114. 209. 
Atwels, Mr.. 118. 119, 207. 
Aubrey, Francis. 291. 
Axacan, 13. 
Aylett family, 115, 266. 

Bachelor's Hope, 97-98, 152, 171; see 

List of Illustrations. 
Backus family, 129. 



Bacon's Rebellion, 318, 321-4. 

Ball, Mary. 114, 124. 128, 134. 

Baltimore, 5, 147, 148, 298, 315, 337. 

Baltimore, Lady, 129. 

Baltimore, Lords, see Calverts. 

Baptist Church, 237-8. 

Barbadoes, 132. 

Barnsfield, 291. 

Basford Manor, 68, 69, 95, 97. 

Battle Creek. 140. 

Beal. Mr.. 119, 267. 

Bedford, 60, 74, 125, 127, 171, 234, 251. 

Beggar's Neck, 5&, 94. 352. 

Belhaven. 146. 

Bell, Rev. John, 245. 

Belle Air, Prince William Co., 131, 144, 

154, 171. 259; Stafford Co., 126, 128. 
Belle Plaine, 128. 
Bellevue, 264, 265, 295. 
Belmont Bay, 130. 
Belvoir, 133, 134, 154, 171, 174, 334-5, 

343, 358. 
Benedict, 332. 

Benedict Leonard Town, 312. 
Bennett family, 100. 
Berkeley. Sir Wm., 117, 154, 191, 211. 
Berry Hill, 128. 268, 314. 
Beverley, Robert, 152. 
Biological Society of Washington. 349. 
Bishop's Neck, 74. 
Black, Wm., 281. 
Blackistone Island, see Heron Islands 

and St. Clement's Island. 
Blackistone family, 252. 
Blackistone, Nehemiah, 96. 
Blackstone, Mr., 251. 
Bladen, Wm., 91. 
Bladensburg, 332, 334. 
Bland family. 100. 
Blenheim, 104, 265. 268. 
Blue Plains, 110. 
Bluff Point, 96. 
Boarman, Wm., 100. 
Bond, Wm.. 255. 
Booth. Billy. 224. 
Booth. John Wilkes. 341-2, 355. 
Boscobel, 126, 128. 



365 



3G6 



INDEX 



Boston, 274, 330. 

Boucher, Jonathon, 274. 

Boundaries, 1, 47-9, 57. 

Braddock, Gen. Edward, 146, 324, 325, 

332. 
Brambley, 96. 
Brandon, 6. 
Bray, Rev. Thos., 233. 
Brent family. 64, 71, 104, 128, 129, 

228, 251, 252, 265, 274, 323, 327. 
Brent, Fulk, 71. 
Brent, George, 129. 
Brent, Giles, 71, 128, 129, 139. 251. 
Brent, Margaret, 45-46, 67, 71, 128, 139. 
Brent, Mary, 71, 139. 
Brent, Polly, 264. 
Brentland, 104. 
Brent's Landing, 104. 
Brent's Point, 71, 128. 
Bretton Bay, 39. 55, 56, 94, 97. 142, 148, 

85L 352. 
Bretton, Wm. and Temperence, 95, 352. 
Brick, 40, 150, 159-164. 
Bridges, Chas., 177. 
Bridges Creek, 123. 124. 
Bristol. 187, 227, 308. 
Broad Creek, 39. 58. 242, 336. 
Broad Run Church, 60, 242. 
Brome's Landing, 347. 
Brook, Mrs., 266. 
Brooke, Robert, 281. 
Brooke, Roger, 100. 
Brown, Dr. Gustavus, 102, 103, 253. 
Bryan Point, 359. 
Bryan, Thomas Pinckney, 70. 
Bull Run, 39. 53, 338. 
Burbridge, 215. 
Bushfield, 119. 120, 121, 171, 253. 256, 

265, 266. 267, 268. 314. 350; see List of 

Illustrations. 
Bushrod family, 253. 
Bushwood Lodge, 97. 
Bushwood Manor, 56, 96, 97, 150, 152, 

156.171.352. 
"By-Ways of Virginia History," quoted, 

32. 

Caledon, 127. 

Calvert. Benedict, 109. 178. 

Calvert, Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, the 
Proprietor, 27, 52, 62, 66, 70, 90, 
93, 95, 104, 110, 137, 160, 319, 346. 

Calvert, Charles, 137, 139. 

Calvert. Eleanor, 109, 134. 

Calvert family, 64, 129, 177, 178. 



Calvert, Governor Leonard, 27, 29, 39, 
42, 44, 45, 64, 68, 69. 90, 100, 106, 

137, 139, 160, 320, 347, 352, 360. 
Calvert, Philip, 139. 

Calvert, William, 91. 

Calvert's Bay, 90; see List of Illustra- 
tions. 

Calvert's Rest. 90, 91, 150, 151. 

Camden, Lord. 179. 

Campbell family. 120. 124, 214. 

Campbellton. 124. 214. 

Captains of Merchant Ships, 21. 141, 
159. 187. 188. 201. 230. 248, 249. 287, 
308, 309. 310. 329. See Argoll, Fleet, 
Greig and John Smith. 

Carlyle, Col. John, 146, 325. 

Carlyle, House, 146, 147, 155, 301, 325; 
see List of Illustrations. 

Carroll, Charles, of Carrollton, 110. 

Carroll, Daniel, 110, 210. 

Carroll family. 129, 274, 

Carter, Ben, 118, 219, 220, 221, 223, 
263, 271, 272. 273. 

Carter. Ann Tasker, wife of the Coun- 
cillor, 219, 222. 254, 263, 269, 270, 
271. 

Carter, Betsy, 263. 

Carter, Councillor Robert, 76, 81, 116, 
117, 118, 120, 121, 153, 170, 178, 180, 
182, 213. 216. 217. 219. 220. 221. 241, 
242, 254, 261, 263, 269, 270. 271, 286, 
289. 314. 351; see List of Illustrations. 

Carter, George. 128. 

Carter, John, the Immigrant. 213. 

Carter, "King," 128, 242. 

Carter family, 65. 114, 120, 128, 170, 
177, 182, 207. 262. 263. 269. 270. 

Carter, Fanny, 207. 221. 263. 

Carter. Landon. 182. 228, 315, 326. 

Carter, Mr., of Corotamon, 81. 183. 

Carter, Nancy, 219, 220, 221, 222, 224, 
269. 

Carter, Prissy, 222. 261, 263, 269. 

Carter, Bob, 219, 220, 223. 224, 263, 
271. 272, 273. 

Carter's Park, 128. 

Carthagena, 93, 94, 126; see List of Illus- 
trations. 

Carthagena Creek, 94, 346. 

Catholic Church, 30, 49, 54, 55. 61. 96, 

138, 219, 237; see Religious Life. 
Cattle, 41. 

Causine, Nicholas, 102. 
Causine's Manor, 102; see List of Illus- 
trations. 



INDEX 



367 



Cavaliers, 51. 

Cawson, 295. 

Cedar Grove, 127, 342. 

Cedar Point. 290, 292. 

Census, Early, 32. 

Chandler. Wm., 102. 

Chandler's Hope, 102. 

Chantilly. 81. 120, 121, 144, 171. 185. 

227, 264, 266, 268, 293. 295, 314, 326, 

327,350. 
Chapawomsic Creek, 53. 
Chapel Point. 102. 
Chapman familv, 106. 
Chaptico Bay, 39, 57, 61, 68, 95, 97. 

142, 352. 
Chaptico Manor, 95. 
Charles County, 52, 57, 62, 107, 210, 228 

283 290. 
Charles I, King, 27, 99, 107, 353. 
Charles II, King, 33, 51, 52, 61, 70. 
Charleston, 101, 354. 
Charlotte Hall, 211. 
Chastelleux, Comte de, 330. 
Chatham, 126, 266, 295. 
Chatham, Lord, 179. 
Chatterton, 127. 
Chelton's, Col., 119. 
Cherive's Creek, 116. 
Chesapeake Bay, 4-6, 13, 14, 31, 32, 

34, 48, 69, 90, 121, 137, 280, 328, 337, 

343, 345, 349, 355. 
Chicacony, 141. 

Chickowosen Creek, 39, 61, 75, 142. 
Chilawone, 35. 
Chimneys, 150-1, 154-5, 157; see List 

of Illustrations. 
China Hall, 124.. 
Chisildine, Kenline, 251. 
Chotank. 125, 127. 241. 356. 
Christ Church, Alexandria, 147, 164; 

see List of Illustrations. 
Christ Church, Chaptico, 57, 97, 255, 

352. 
Christian, Mr., 216, 224, 225, 269. 
Claggetts, 64. 
Clay, Henry, 354. 
Clayborne, 319, 320. 
Clergy, 56, 244-248; see Jesuits. 
Cleveland, Grover, 105, 357. 
Clifton, Wm., 291. 
Coade, Edwin, 93, 94. 
Coan River. 18, 34, 39, 50. 61, 112, 

114, 837, 347. 
Coan River Landing, 141; »ee List of 

Elustrations. 



Cobbs, 121. 

Cobb's Island, 353. 

Cobb's Point. 100. 

Cockburn. Admiral. 132, 332. 

Cockburn. Martin, 132, 332. 

Colchester, 144, 300. 

Cole, Richard, 51, 115, 117, 256, 350. 

Cole's Point, 115, 117, 118. 

Colonial Beach, 355. 

Columbia College, 226. 

Contee, Benjamin, 210. 

Contee, Col. John, 102. 

Cool Spring Manor, 68. 

Copein, Wm., 61. 

Cople Parish, 59, 60, 62, 120, 256. 

Corbin family, 65, 114, 115, 130, 241. 

Corbin, Henry, 116, 229. 

Corbin, Jenny, 218. 

Corbin, Col. R.. 81. 

Corn. 40. 

Cornwallis, Thos., 68, 69, 90, 92, 93, 

101, 320. 
Cornwallis Manor, 69. 
Corotamon. 81, 120. 
Counties, 50-54, 62. 
Courts Leet and Baron, 30, 67, 88, 96. 
Cox, Mr., 187. 
Craik, Dr. James, 102, 103. 
Crain, Robert, 354. 
Crawford's Tavern, 306. 
Creeks 37—39. 
Cross Manor, 90, 91, 92, 101, 150, 171, 

320, 346; see List of Illustrations. 
Crow's Nest, 128. 
Culpepper, Lady, 129. 
Culpepper, Lord, 33, 70. 
Culpepper, Thomas, 33. 
Cumberland, Duke of, 62. 
Cumberland, Mr., 1. 
Currioman Bay, 39, 61. 
Curtiss, Glenn, 357. 
Custis, Daniel Parke, 134. 
Custis, Eleanor ("Nelly") Parke, 135, 

178, 181, 214, 242. 
Custis, Eliza Parke, 135, 178. 
Custis, Geo. Washington Parke, 135, 

214 242. 
Custis, John Parke, 109, 134, 135. 
Custis, Martha Parke, 135. 

Daniel, Travers, 128. 
Dahlgren, 343-4, 355. 
Davenant, Sir Wm., 353. 
Davis, John, 144, 215, 240, 300, 301, 
358. 



368 



INDEX 



Deep Falls, 98. 

De La Brooke Manor, 100. 

Delafiao, Reynard, Hi. 

De La Warre, Lord, 39. 

Dent. Tom, lOL 

Dettingen Parish, 59, 60, 62. 

De Vries, David, 83. 

Dick, Dr., 103. 

Diegel, Jacob, 255. 

Digges family, 64, 107, 108. 109, 129. 
133, 145, 242, 274, 310, 359. 

Digges, Thos. Atwood, 108. 109. 178; 
see List of Illustrations. 

Dinwiddie, Gov., 324. 

District of Columbia. 53, 54, 110. 144, 
290. 

Ditchley Hall. 58, 121, 242, 

Dobson, Mr., 323. 

Dodson. Gervas. 129. 

Dogue Creek, 39, 61, 133, 135, 358, 359. 

Dogue's Neck (Doeg). 291. 

Domestic Life — indoors 168-191; — out- 
doors, 192-208. 

Douglas. Wm., 214. 

Dore, The, see The Ark. 

Drinks, 190-1. 

Duddington Manor, 110. 

Dulany, Dan'l, 274; Lloyd, 274. 

Dumfries, 60, 143, 144, 163. 246, 248, 
265, 294, 295, 300, 357. 

Dunham Parish, 57, 104. 

Dunmore, Lord, 129, 326, 327. 

Eagle's Nest, 126, 127, 171. 

Early, R. H., 321. 

Education, 209-236. 

Elizabeth River, 12. 

EUicott of Occoquon, 215. 

Eltonhead Manor, 102. 

England. Trade with, 80-85, 173-176. 

Episcopal Church, 51. 54, 55, 56, 57, 

58, 140, 237, 246; see Religious Life. 
Episcopal High School, 212. 
Episcopal Theological Seminary, 212. 
Equality. 105. 
Eskridge, George, 114. 
Eton Hills, 106. 
Evelyn, George, 94. 
Evelynton Manor, 94, 349. 
Fairfax County, 53, 59, 62, 126, 274. 
Fairfax family, 64, 133, 134, 156, 174, 

358, 359. 
Fairfax Parish, 59, 60, 62. 
Fairfax, Thomas, Lord, 62, 70, 129, 133, 

232. 



Falls of the Potomac, 1, 7, 25, 48, 51, 
110, 147. 272, 336; see List of Illus- 
trations. 

Falls Church. 61. 

Fantleroy family, 72-74, 114, 217, 224, 
268. 274. 

Farneffold, John, 211. 

Father's Gift. The, 110. 

Fauna. 15, 16, 25, 28, 31. 41, 196. 

"Federal City. The," see City of 
Washington. 

Fences, 196-7. 

Fendall, Governor, 97, 248, 

Penwick, Cuthbert, 69. 

Fenwick Manor, 69. 

Ferries, 246. 285. 290-4, 300, 351. 

Fish. 16-17, 25, 41, 119, 190, 195, 349, 
359. 

Fitzhugh family, 65, 125, 126. 127. 129, 
153, 177, 210, 213. 229, 230. 241, 243, 
252, 264, 265, 266, 280, 290. 295, 356. 

Fitzhugh. Wm.. the Immigrant, 74, 75, 
76, 80, 125, 127, 141, 151, 152, 159, 
173, 178, 184, 187, 196, 197, 201, 213, 
234, 251, 286, 310, 356. 

Fithian. Philip Vickers, 115, 116, 118, 
120, 170, 180, 182, 207, 216, 224, 241, 
254, 262, 263, 269, 276, 283, 292, 297, 
314, 315. 317, 350. 

Fleet, Capt. Henry, 24, 25, 29, 137, 346. 

Flora, 30-31, 39, 118, 165. 

Foote, Fort, 337. 

Forest family, 129. 

Forrest, Uriah, 210. 

Fort Point, 91, 346. 

Franklin, Benj., 180, 183, 317. 

Frazer's Point, 291. 

Fredericksburg, 126, 147, 148, 266, 273, 
294, 298, 299, 300, 314, 338, 357. 

Freestone Point, 129, 130, 357, 358. 

Fruit, 197-8. 

Furniture and furnishings, 172-183. 

Gadsby's Tavern, 301, 302. 

Galloway, Sam., 274, 275. 

Gardiner, Mr., 336. 

Garnett. R. H.. 342. 

Gates Sir T. 24. 

Georgetown, 75, 85. 110. 135. 146. 147- 

8, 188, 289. 292, 294, 298, 299, 801, 

304, 305, 314. 
Georgetown University, 92, 140, 211, 

360. 
Gerrard, Thos., 69, 95, 97, 116, 123. 229. 
Gerrard's Creek, 95. 



INDEX 



369 



Gill, Anne, 99. 

Gilmer, Thos W., 336. 

Gisborough, 10. 

Glasgow, 309. 

Glass, 152. 

Glebe, The, 119, 120, 246, 350. 

Glebe Creek, 39, 120, 246. 

Glebes, 245, 246. 

Gloucester County, 310. 

Glover, Thos., 204. 

Gooch, Gov., 281. 

Gordon, R. N., Capt. J. A., 333-5, 359. 

Gordon, Mr., 217. 

Gordon, Mr. James, 266. 

Gordon's Tavern, 300-1. 

Governor's Mansion at St. Mary's, 152, 

161-2. 
Graham family, 129, 265. 
Grason's Landing, 92. 
Grayson family, 131. 
Grayson, Wm., 144, 188, 210. 
Great Hunting Creek, 39, 54, 71, 133, 

146, 212, 291. 
Green Hill, 105, 119. 
Green, Gov. Thos., 139. 
Green Spring, 295. 
Gregory, Wm., 292. 
Greig, Capt., 187, 218, 261, 310. 
Grymes, John, 264. 
Grymes, Lucy, 130. 
Gunston Cove, 19, 39, 75, 132, 133, 

358. 
Gunston Hall, 75, 132, 145, 152, 154, 

155, 178, 202, 252, 295, 327, 358; see 

List of Illustrations. 

Habredeventure, 102, 156, 356. 

Haddon Hall, 75. 

Hague, 35. 

Ha-ha Walls, 166. 

Hale, Priscilla, 226. 

Hanson family, 64, 105, 107, 145, 177. 

Hanson Hill, 105. 

Hanson, John, 102, 105, 177, 178, 188, 

210, 228; see List of Illustrations. 
Hard Bargain, 101, 353. 
Hardwicke, Mr., 142. 
Harrington, Dr., 261. 
Harris family, 101. 
Harrison, Benj., 105. 
Harrison, Wm. Henry, 105. 
"Harvie, Gov.," 160. 
Harwood, 105. 
Hatton's Corbett, 94. 
Hatton's Point, 142. 



Hayward, Nicholas, 75. 

Heating, 181-2. 

"Head right," 36. 

Healing Springs, 210. 

Hebb, William, 93, 94, 252. 

Hecke welder, 12. 

Hedges, 165, 166, 167. 

Hen, Robt., 322. 

Henderson, Col., 163. 

Henrietta Maria, Queen, 30, 99, 353. 

Henry, Patrick, 6, 214. 

Hereford, John, 29. 

Herold, David E., 341. 

Heron Islands, 28, 54, 352. 

Hesselius, John, 177, 178, 179. 

Hickory Hill, 120, 121, 253, 262, 351. 

Higgin's Point, 56. 

Hilton, 127. 

His Lordship's Kindness, 109. 

Hollin Hall, 132. 

Homewood, 156. 

Hominy Hall, 115. 

Hooe's Ferry, 104, 283, 290, 291-4, 300, 

313. 
Hopton, Lord, 33. 
Horses, 41, 286. 
Horse Racing, 273-6. 
Humphreys, Camp, 343, 359. 
Humphreys, David, 310. 
Himaphreys, Joseph, 275. 
Hunt, Fort, 360. 

Indian Head, 343, 358. 

Indian Towns. 17-19, 147. 

Indians, 12, 13, 15, 17-20, 27, 29, 31, 

42, 43, 44, 61, 72, 93, 106, 112, 204, 

281, 320, 321-4, 356. 

Jackson's Creek, 115, 116. 

James River, 5, 12, 14, 17, 21, 32, 112, 

147, 280, 298, 324, 340. 
Jamestown, 34, 277. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 6, 132, 142, 305. 
Jenifer, Dan'l, 101, 354. 
Jenifer, Dan'l of St. Thomas, 101, 105, 

188, 210. 
Jenifer family, 64, 101, 177, 274. 
Jennings, Edmund, 179. 
Jermyn, Henry, Lord, 33. 
Jesuits, 12, 101, 102, 211, 346, 352; see 

Andrew White, S. J. 
Jett, Thos., 159. 
Johnson family, 129. 
Johnson, Dr. Sam'l, 231. 
Jones, Hugh, 19, 83, 280, 284. 



370 



INDEX 



Jones, Joseph, 210. 
Jones' Point, 54. 
Jones, Thos. A., 340. 342. 
Jutland, 91. 

Keimer, Sam'l. 317. 

Kemp. Rev. Mr.. 246. 

Kennon, U. S. N., Commodore, 336. 

Kent Island, 137. 

Keppel, Commodore, 324. 

Kester, Vaughan, 208. 

Kettle Bottom Shoals, 7. 

Key family, 64, 97. 

Key's Branch. 138. 

King's River, 12. 

King and Queen Parish, 57, 233. 

King George County, 59, 60, 62, 125, 

243, 290, 300. 
Kingscote Creek, 39. 
Kinsale, 142, 348. 
Kirk, Martin, 67. 
Kirnan, 124. 
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 177. 

Labour, 76-7, 169, 199-204. 

Lading, Bill of, 84. 

La Grange, 102, 151. 356. 

Lancaster, Robt. A., 113, 122, 243. 

Landmarks, 37. 

Land, .systems of acquiring, 31, 36, 37; 

of transfer, 67, 72. See Manorial 

System. 
Lane, Mrs., 270. 
Langley, Prof., 357. 
Latrobe, Benj., 302. 
Laurens, Henry, 293, 300. 
Law, Eliza Custis, 135, 178. 
"Leah and Rachel," 247. 
Lear, Tobias, 85, 134, 214. 
Le Brun, Chas., 178. 
Lecharcey, Rev. M., 245. 
Lee, Arthur, 122, 123, 187. 210, 229, 231. 
Lee family, 65, 74, 81, 104, 114, 115, 116, 

121, 122-3, 128, 129, 130, 177, 178, 

185, 188, 210, 219, 228, 229, 231, 

232, 235, 241, 255, 264, 265, 266. 

267, 269, 270, 274, 281, 295, 310, 314, 

351. 
Lee Hall, 121, 129, 267, 269, 351. 
Lee, Hancock, of Md.. 256. 
Lee, Hancock, of Va., 58, 121, 242. 
Lee, John, 228-9. 
Lee, Major John, 264. 
Lee, "Light-Horse" Harry, 110, 123, 

130, 178, 219, 231, 266, 268, 358. 



I^e, Lucinda, 261, quoted, 2&1-271. 

"Lee, Mr.," 211. 

"Lee of Virginia," quoted, 115, 122. 

Lee Parish, 58, 59. 

Lee, Richard Henry, 81, 121, 122, 123, 

144, 178, 179. 183, 187. 188. 210. 

227, 229, 231, 264, 293, 300, 314, 315, 

326,327,351,361. 
Lee, Richard, of Md.. 104. 283, 300. 
Lee, Robt. E., 100, 123, 130, 268. 
Leesylvania, 130, 131, 354. 
Lely, Sir Peter, 177. 
L'Enfant. Major Charles, 109, 333. 
Leonardtown, 55, 97, 143, 351. 
Levy Point, 319. 
Lewis, Mrs. LawTence, 135. 
Lewis, Warren, 281. 
Lewisses Neck, 142. 
Lexington, 132. 
Lights, 182-3. 

Lincoln, President, 338-9, 340-1. 
Libraries, 153, 176. 233. 
Little Bretton Manor, 94, 352. 
Little Hackley, 96. 
Little Hunting Creek, 39. 
Littlepage, James, 281. 
Little Wicomico River, 39. 
Liverpool, 311. 
Livingston family, 129. 
Lloyd, Philemon, 100. 
Locust Thicket, 107. 
Lodge Landing, 348. 
London, 41, 77, 81, 82, 85, 152, 177, 

179, 183, 185, 186, 191, 197, 204, 

227,239, 240, 247, 308. 
Longworth Point, 96. 
Loudon, Col., 81. 
Lovell, Robert, 291. 
Lower Machodac Creek, 51, 114, 117, 

118, 119, 120, 350. 

McCarty, Dan'l, 274. 

McClintock, U. S. N., Midshipman H. 
B., 332. 

Maddox Creek, 124. 

Madison, James. 124, 125, 333, 355. 

Mail, 307-316. 

Manorial System, 30, 65-71, 87. 

Manors, 30, 70, 87-111. 

Mansfield, 295. 

Mantua, 113, 384; see List of Illustra- 
tions. 

Maps, see cover linings, frontispiece, 
11—12 128 

Marlboro, 128, 233, 274. 



INDEX 



371 



Marlboro, Md., 2-73, 275. 283, 300. 
Marlboro Point, 18. 
Marmion, 126, 268; see List of Illustra- 
tions. 
Marshall family, 65. 107, 114, 124. 125. 

291. 
Marshall Hall, 19, 107, 291, 359. 
Marshall, John, 124. 
Martin, John, 70. 
Martin's Hundred, 70. 
Maryland, origin of name, 30; original 

boundaries, 31. 
Maryland Historical Society, 96, 159. 
Maryland Point, 19, 58, 104, 126, 356. 
Maryland River, 12. 
Ma.son family, 65, 106, 129, 132, 252. 

274, 291, 313, 327. 
Mason, George, 6, 75. 132, 144, 145. 

178, 202, 232. 233, 252, 295, 327. 361. 
Mason. James Murray, 132. 
Mason's Ferry, 300. 
Mason's Neck, 75, 132, 358. 
Mathew, Thos., (T. M.), 321. 
Mathias Point. 104, 125. 291, 337. 338, 

343, 355, 356. 
Mattapany, 96. 
Mattapany River, 14. 
Mattawomen Creek, 19, 39, 52, 61. 75. 

106, 254, 358. 
Matthews, Thos., 102. 
Mattox Creek, 39. 
Maxey, Virgil, 330. 
Meade, Bishop, 125, 131, 242, 246. 
Medicine, 204-208. 
Mellish's Travels, quoted, 295. 
Menokin, 268, 295. 
Mercer family, 65, 128, 232. 233, 274. 
Mercer, James, 210. 
Mercer, John F., 210, 232, 274. 
Methodist Church. 237-8. 
Military Operations, 318-344. 
Minerals, 13, 15, 16. 
Mint at St. Mary's, 85. 
Mock Necke, 74. 
Moncure family, 243. 
Monroe family, 65, 114, 214. 
Monroe, James, 124, 123, 210, 232, 355. 
Montpclier, 156. 
Montross Parish, 59. 
Morton, Sir William, 33. 
Moscope, Rev. M., 246. 
Mosher family, 129. 
Motteshead, Zachary, 85. 
Mount Airy, Md., 109, 134, 177. 
Mount Airy, Va., 6. 120, 156, 286. 



Mount Aventine, 106, 359. 

Mount Eagle, 133. 

Mount Pleasant, 74, 104. 121. 122. 235, 
351. 

Mount Republic, 353. 

Mount Victoria, 354. 

Mount Vernon, 29, 75. 93. 103, 107, 
108. 109, 132. 133, 134, 135, 146, 153, 
154. 155. 158. 166, 171, 174, 176, 181, 
186, 188. 194. 196. 201. 214, 224, 
235, 241, 248, 252, 259, 260. 208, 272, 
281, 291, 292, 297, 301, 310, 324, 327, 
328, 336, 359; see List of Illustrations. 

Moyowance, 18, 19. 

Mudd, Dr. Sam'l A., 341. 

Mulberry Fields, 94, 153, 156. 163, 
166, 171, 198, 350; see List of Illustra- 
tions. 

Mulberry Grove, 102, 105, 198. 356. 

Mulberry Tree. The, 138. 140. 199, 347. 

Music, 180-1. 221, 222. 

Myers, Fort, 343. 

Nacatchtanke, 18, 19. 

Nails, 40, 151-2. 

Names, 11-13, 30, 61-3. 

Nanjemoy. 233, 342, 356. 

Nanjemoy Creek, 39, 57, 58, 61, 104, 142. 

Nanjemoy Manor, 104. 

Napier, R. N., Capt., 334. 

Narratives, Early, 26. 

Naval Operations, 318-344. 

Naval Proving Grounds, 343-4. 

Neabsco Creek, 39, 61. 129, 131. 

Neale family, 99, 100, 129, 177, 353. 

Neale, Capt. James, 98, 99. 353. ; 

Neale Sound. 100, 353. 

Necostins Town, 51. 

Nelson, Counsellor, 81. 

Newport Hundred, 57. 

New Scotland Hundred, 144. 

Newspapers, 235-6, 315-6. 

NewtowTi, 312. 

Newton, Mr., 251. 

Newton Neck, 94, 352. 

New York, 5, 188, 227, 298, 305. 311, 

330. 
Nomini Church. 60, 118, 218, 241, 263, 

351. 
Nomini CliSs. 7, 121, 351. 
Nomini Bay or Creek, 7, 18, 39. 60. 61, 

75, 76, 118. 119, 120, 121, 142, 218, 

281,310, 327.350-1. 
Nomini Hall. 76, 116, 117. 120. 153. 150, 

171, 180, 213, 216, 224. 235, 241, 242, 



372 



INDEX 



259, 262, 269, 271, 289, 295, 297, 314, 

315, 351. 
Norfolk, 5, 119, 297, 298, 327. 
North Garden, 113. 
Northern Neck, 6, 33, 34, 35. 36. 48, 

68, 70, 71, 75, 120, 133. 
Northumberland County, 33-35, 50, 

58, 59, 60, 62, 113, 121, 141, 211, 

242, 245, 275, 300, 310, 322, 330. 
Northumberland House. 113. 274, 348. 
Notley Hall, 97, 98. 
Notley, Thos.. 97.98. 352. 

Occoquon Bay and Creek, 13, 16, 39, 
53, 61, 75, 125, 130, 132, 144, 295, 
300. 327. 338, 357, 358; see List of 
Illustrations. 

Occoquon, town of, 144-5, 215, 240, 294, 
358. 

Octagon House, 6. 

Onawanient, 17, 18. 

O'Neill, Rev. Wm., 248. 

Opechancanough, 21. 

Outbuildings, 155, 150, 193-4, 195. 

Overlook, 358. 

Overwharton Parish, 59, 00, 62. 

Oxon Creek, 39, 109, 110. 

Oxon Hill, 105. 110. 133. 152, 155, 156. 
171. 178, 242. 

Page, Mann, 295. 

Palace of St. John, 139, 347. 

Pamacaeack, 18, 19. 

Pamunky River, Va., 14. 

Pamunky Creek, see Pomunky. 

Paper Maker's Neck, 74. 

Paradise, 74. 

Parishes, 54-57. 

Parker, Gen. Alex., 115. 

Parks, Wm.. 236, 316. 

Parrott's Manor, 68. 

Pastancy, King of, 23. 

Patuxent River, 69, 100. 126, 127, 140, 

280, 284, 332. 
Peace 128. 

Peale.'Chas. Willson, 177, 178, 179. 
Pease Point, 142. 
Pecatone, 115, 116, 171, 231, 261, 265, 

266, 267, 283, 350. 
Peck, John, 224. 
Pendleton, Edmund, 6. 
Perry, John, 312, 353. 
Perry, U. S. N., Commodore, O. H., 335. 
Peter, Mrs. Thos., 135. 
Petersburg, 295. 



Philadelphia, 5, 147, 297, 298. 300, 302, 
.305. 312, 313, 314. 815, 816, 317, 327, 
353. 

Pimet, Mr.. 323. 

Piney Point, 94, 349, 350. 

Pinkard, Mr., 266; Mrs. 266, 268. 

Pirates, 330. 

Piscataway Creek, 19, 29, 39, 45, 57, 
61, 106, 109, 134, 145. 

Piscataway, Emperor of, 29, 352, 360. 

Piscataway Forest, 107. 

Piscataway Parish, 57, 58, 233. 

Piscataway Towti, 45, 107, 145, 283. 

Plantations, 64-86. 

Plater, Gov. and Mrs. George, 127. 

Pocahontas, 22-24. 

Pohick Church, 60, 240, 241, 246, 248. 
358; see List of Illustrations. 

Pohick Bay or Creek. 18. 39. 60. 61, 358. 

Point Lookout, 6, 57. 67, 69, 280, 284, 
346. 

Pomona, 124. 

Pomunky Creek, Maryland, 19, 39, 61, 
106, 133, 291. 

Pope family, 123. 

Pope, Nicholas, 213. 

Pope's Creek, Md., 342, 355; Va. 84, 
123. 124, 274, 292, 354; see "Wash- 
ington's Birthplace" in List of Illus- 
trations. 

Pope's Creek Church. 60. 

Poplar Hill Church, 56, 57. 94. 

Poplar Hill Creek, 94. 

Poplar Hill Hundred,, 94. 

Port Tobacco, Creek, 39, 56, 57, 75, 101, 
103, 104, 142, 156, 340, 342, 355; 
Town, 57, 102, 143, 233, 291. 292. 
308. 313, 355. 

Porter, U. S. N., Commodore. 334. 359. 

Porto Bello. 93, 94, 155, 171, 252, 346. 

Portraits, 176-180. 

Posey, John, 291. 

Potomac Creek, 18, 39, 52, 60, 125, 126, 
127, 128, 130, 246, 264, 298, 326, 
337 343. 

"Potomac Flotilla," 337-8. 

Potomac Navy, 326, 328. 

Potomac River, see individual headings. 

Potomac Town, 15, 18, 29. 

Potomacs, King of, 21, 22. 127. 

Powell's Creek, 129. 

Powhatan, 21, 22. 

Poynton Manor, 105. 

"Present State of Virginia," see Hugh 
Jones. 



INDEX 



373 



Presley, Wm.. 35, 113. 

Preston, Mr., HO. 

Price Creek, 39. 

Priest's Point, 346. 

Prince George's County, 52, 62, 68, 

104, 105, 156, 291. 
Prince William County, 53, 59, 62, 129, 

259,291,327. 
Prince's River, 12. 
Princeton, 109, 130, 181, 216, 224, 227, 

231, 241, 297, 315, 331. 
Princeton, U. S. Frigate, 335-6. 
Printing, 44. 

Protestant Point, 56, 352. 
Protestant Rebellion, 97. 

Quantico, 298, 343, 357; see List of 

Illustrations. 
Quantico Creek, 39, 143, 291, 357. 
Queen's River, 12. 
Quiough, see Aquia. 

Ragged Point Light, 350. 
Randolph, John, 6, 100. 
Rappahannock rRiver, 5, 12, 14, 48, 71, 

120, 125, 126, 147, 164, 309, 314, 324, 

342. 
Ravensworth, 126. 
Religion, Freedom of, 30, 49, 319. 
Religious Life, 237-258. 
Resurrection Manor, 69. 
Retirement, 128, 266. 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 108, 177, 178. 
Richards, Mourning, 61. 
Richardson, IVL-s. Hester Dorsey, 

quoted. 99, 249. 
Richlands, 129, 265, 274, 295. 
Richmond, 5, 147, 294, 295, 297, 298, 

338, 340. 
Rideouts, Mr., 274. 
Ridgeley, Helen W., quoted, 92. 
Riggs' Farm, 109. 
River Queen, The, 340. 
Roads, 282, et Seq. 
"Rob of the Bowl," Kennedy's, quoted, 

139. 161. 
Rochambeau, Comte de, 330. 
Rock Creek, 132, 291. 
Rodgers, U. S. N., Capt. John, 335. 
Rogers, J., 243. 
Rogers, W. L. 331. 
Rose Croft, 139, 171. 
Rose Hill, 102, 103, 151, 155, 156, 165, 

253, 356, see List of Illustrations. 
Rosier, Col. Benj., 98. 



Rosier Creek, 39, 53, 125. 
Rosier's Refuge, 102. 
Ross, U. S. A., Gen'l, 332. 
Rousby family, 126, 127. 
Rousby Hall, 126, 127. 
Rumsey, James, 297. 

Sabine Hall, 6, 120, 182, 326. 

Sacred Heart Chapel, 56. 

St. Albans, Earl of, 33. 

St. Aloysius' Church, 55. 

St. Catherine's Island, 28, 62, 69. 

St. Cicilie's Island, 28. 

St. Clement's Bay or Creek, 7, 39, 56, 

57, 62, 69, 94, 95, 352. 
St. Clement's Island, 28, 29, 62, 69, 96, 

352. 
St. Clement's Manor, 56, 69. 95, 96, 

116, 124, 352. 
St. Elisabeth's, 110. 
St. Elisabeth's Manor, 69, 90, 91, 346. 
St. Francis' Church, 55. 
St. Gabriel's Manor. 67, 69, 90, 150, 

346. 
St. George's Church, 56, 255. 
St. George's River, 39, 62. 
St. George's Island, 62, 90. 
St. Inigoes' Creek, 39. 62. 90, 92, 93, 

139, 150, 346. 
St. Inigoes' Fort, 43, 91. 
St. Inigoes' Manor, 55, 69, 90, 140. 
St. Ignatius' Chapel, 95. 
St. Jacob, 110. 
St. Jerome's Creek, 69. 
St. John, 96. 

St. John's Church, 58, 242. 
St. Joseph's Manor, 68. 
St. Margaret's Island, 62, 69. 
St. Mary's Bay, 13. 
St. Mary's City, 25, 30, 44, 51, 56, 62, 

64, 68, 71, 85, 93, 94, 97, 101, 128, 

136-140, 152, 161, 199, 211, 235, 248, 

277, 299, 301, 308, 311, 319, 320, 330, 

346, 360. 
St. Mary's County, 50, 56, 62, 68, 173, 

351. 
St. Mary's Parish, 57, 233. 
St. Mary's River, 29, 30, 34, 39, 55, 57, 

62, 69, 90, 93, 139, 211, 329, 337, 346; 

see List of Illustrations. 
St. Mary's Seminary, 211, 346. 
St. Mary's White Chapel, 243. 
St. Michael's Manor, 67, 69, 90, 346. 
St. Patrick's Creek, 39, 62. 
St. Paul's Church, 58. 



374 



INDEX 



St. Paul's Creok, 56. 

St. Paul's Parish, Va.. oO. (iO, 6i. iU. 

243. 
St. Philip, 110. 
St. Richard's Manor, 68. 
St. Stephen's Parish, 59. 62, 211, 245, 

275. 
St. Thomas Church, 56, 102. 
St. Thomas Manor, 56, 102, 356. 
St. Woodley's, 246. 
Salisbury Park, 115, 117, 256. 
Salvington, 128, 266. 
Sandy Point, 114, 350. 
Scarborough, Col, & Mrs. Chas., 100. 
Scots, 143. 
Secowomoco, 18, 19. 
Scott, Gustavas, 210. 
Sekacawone, 17, 18, 34. 
Selden family, 128, (Selder) 266. 
Semmes, Admiral Raphael, 105-6. 
Servants, Indentured, see Labour. 
Settlements, Early, 27-46. 
Severn River, 5, 280, 320. 
So wall, Anne, 98. 
Shelburne, Ix)rd, 187. 
Shepardstow-n, 297. 
Ships— Merchant, 14, 21, 23. 24, 25, 27, 

77, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 91, 96, 118, 

119, 128, 145, 152, 160, 183, 191, 

194, 195, 201, 207, 230, 249, 260-261, 

280, 281, 287, 308, 309, 310, 311. 319, 

340, 841, 342, 347, 352. 
Ships— Naval, 106, 320, 324, 325, 326, 

327, 329, 330, 331, 332, 33.3, 334, 335, 

336, 337, 338. 339, 348, 359. 
Shirley. 6. 
Shooters Hill, 164. 
Shriver, B., 242. 
Shuter's Hill, 178. 
Sigomncy, U. S. N., Midshipman J. B., 

331-2, 348. 
Silk, 198. 

Slaves, see Labour. 
SmaUwood, William, 106, 178. 228, 

254. 358. 
Smallwood family, 106, 177. 
Smallwood's Retreat, 106. 
Smith, Capt. John, 5, 11-21, 26, 34, 

64, 112. 
Smith Creek, 39, 69, 90; see Trinity 

Creek. 
Smith Point, 6, 280, 346. 
Smyth, J. F. D., 293. 
Snow, Gideon, 214. 
Snow Hill Manor, «*. 



Social Life, 259-278. 

Society Hill, 274. 

Spanish Explorers, 13. 

Spelman, Harry, 20-22, 24, 25. 26, 43, 

127, 320. 
Spelman, Sir Henry, 20. 
Sports, 271-277. 
Spottswood, A., 265. 268. 
Spottswood, Gov., 312. 
Springfield, Fairfax, 115, 132, 332. 
Springfield, Westmoreland, 115, 850. 
Stadley, Mr., 217, 224. 
Stafford County, 52, 53, 59. 62. 128. 

142. 290. 321. 822. 327. 
Stairways, 155; see List of Illustrations. 
Steward, Dr., 274. 
Stith, quoted, 36. 

Stockton, U. S. N., Commodore. 335. 
Stone, Thos., 102, 105, 210. 
Stone. Wm.. 104, 320. 
Stoney Harbour. 107. 
Stratford. 74, 119, 120, 121, 122, 128, 

152, 155, 156, 157, 171, 219, 229. 

261. 265, 266, 268, 274, 281, 295, 

314, 351; see List of Illustrations. 
Stratton, Sir John, 33. 
Stuart, Gilbert, 177, 178. 
Stuart, Richard, 127, 342. 
Stump Neck, 75. 
Susquehannah River, 5, 280, 313. 
Sutcliff, Robt., quoted, 101, 301, 311, 
Suter's Tavern, 304-5. 
Sweeney family, 129. 
Swift, Ensign, 23. 
Sykes, Representative, 336. 

Tabb, Rev. Moses, 255. 

Tauxenant, 18. 

Taverns, 299-306. 

Tayloe family, 81, 120, 127, 281. 

Theatres, 145, 147, 274, 278, 302. 

"The Ridge." 140. 

Thomas family, 98. 

Thomas. James Walter, quoted, 96, 

126 172 299. 
Thompson's. Dr.. 265. 267. 
Thornton family. 113, 274, 281, 330. 
Thornton, Dr. Wm., 153. 
Tibbs, Col. Willoughby, 163. 
Tilden, Sam'l J., 105. 
Tobacco, 35. 40, 78-79, 81, 85-86, 142, 

244-5, 312. 
Tohogae. 147. 
Tomaquoakin Creek, 95. 
Tooker, 12. 



INDEX 



375 



Touweren, 74. 

Towns, 136-148; Indian, 17-19. 

Travel, 279-306. 

Travers, Rawleigh, 128. 

Treaty, Old Indian, 43-14. 

Trinity Church, 347. 

Trinity Creek, 39, 56, 90. 

Trinity Manor, 69, 90, 346. 

Trinity Parish, 57. 

Truro Parish, 59, 62. 

Tucker, Henry St. George, 100. 

Tucker, John Randolph, 100. 

Tucker, Sarah, 126. 

Tudor Hall, 97, 351; see List of Illustra- 
tions. 

Tudor Place, 135, 153; see List of Illus- 
trations. 

Turberville family, 65, 114, 115, 116, 
121, 218. 231, 241, 253, 254, 261, 262, 
265, 266, 267, 268, 283. 351. 

Tyler, President, 335. 

Upshur, A. P., 336. 

Upper Machodoc Creek, 39, 342. 

Van Buren, President, 129. 

Van Dyke, Anthony, 178. 

Van Swearingen, Anthony, 299. 

Vehicles, 285-289. 

Vernon, R. N.. Admiral, 93, 126, 134. 

Virginia Company, 70. 

Virginia Historical Society, quoted, 117. 

Wakefield, 124, 355. 

Wales, 98. 

Wallis,Thos., 291. 

Walnut Farm, 314. 

Walsh family, 129. 

Warburton Manor, 107, 108. 109. 133, 
171, 178, 242, 281, 325, 331, 359. 

Ward, U. S. N., Commander J. H., 338. 

Warehouses, 142, 140. 

Warren, Sir John Bolase, 331. 

Washington, City of, 1, 19. 21. 25, 53, 
58, 62, 108, 135, 148, 289, 297, 298. 
305, 306, 330, 332, 333, 334, 337, 342, 
351, 357, 360, 361; see List of Il- 
lustrations. 

Washington Barracks, 342. 

Washington, Mrs. Anna, 84. 

Washington, Augustine, Father of 
George, 124, 134. 

Washington, Augustine, Brother of 
George, 230. 

Washington, Bushrod, 256, 265. 



Washington, Justice Bushrod, 248, 256, 

268. 
Washington, Corbin, 267, 268. 
Washington family, 65. 81. 114, 117. 

124, 127, 186, 241, 252, 253, 356, 258, 

265, 266, 268, 350. 
Washington. Fort, 107, 109, 333, 337. 

359; see List of Illustrations. 
Washington, George, 6, 53, 75, 102, 103, 

105, 107, 108, 109, 115, 120, 123, 

124, 125, 130, 131, 132, 133. 134, 135, 

146. 147, 154, 158. 174. 175. 178, 181. 

185, 188, 196, 201, 210,214, 230, 232, 
235, 242. 243. 248, 258. 260. 272. 

274, 286, 287, 291. 292, 294, 297, 301, 
305, 310, 324, 325, 327, 328. 330, 333. 
336, 355, 360, 361. 

Washington. Hannah, 256-7. 258. 

Washington, Jenny, 226. 

Washington, John, the Immigrant, 123, 

133, 248, 249. 
Washington, John Augustine, 119, 120, 

121, 224. 
Washington, LawTence, 98, 134, 146, 

154, 230. 
Washington, Lund, 328. 
Washington, Martha, 103, 109. 134, 178, 

186, 264, 327. 
Washington Parish, 59, 00, 62. 
Waterloo, 127. 

Waugh family, 128. 

Waugh, Rev. John, 246. 

Webster, Daniel, 354. 

Weems, Mason Locke, 131, 144, 248. 

Weld, Isaac, quoted, 143, 294. 

Wellington, 134. 

West, Benj., 179. 

West, Hugh, 291. 

West, Stephen, 300. 

Westbury Manor, 68. 

West Hatton, 101, 353. 

Westmoreland County, 51, 52, 53, 58, 
59, 62, 72, 114, 115, 124, 126, 142, 
179, 180, 209, 214, 231, 248, 256, 274, 

275, 291, 292, 300, 351, 355. 
Westover, 6, 295. 

West St. Mary's Manor, 68. 

West wood, 142. 

Whitaker, Rev. Alex., quoted, 160. 

White, S. J., Father Andrew, 30, 44-5, 

54, 101, 106, 112, 346. 
White, John, 13-14. 
White Haven, 110. 
WTiitman, Walt, quoted 339. 
Wicomico River, 18, 19, 39. 52. 56. 57, 



^ 



376 



INDEX 



61, 69, 95, 97, 98, 101, 142, 150, 156, 

246, 281, 311, 352, 353, 354; see List 

of Illustrations. 
Widewater, 357. 
Widow's Mite, The, 110. 
Wighcocomoco, 17, 18. 
Wilderness, The, 264. 
Wilkinson, U. S. A., Gen'l, 333. 
Wilkinson, Rev. Wm., 56. 
William and Mary, College of, 6, 222, 

226, 227. 
William and Mary Parish, 57, 62, 233. 
Williamsburg, Virginia, 6, 217, 222, 226, 

235, 236, 277, 292, 295, 313, 316. 
Willis, Harry, 219, 220, 221, 223, 224, 

271. 
Wilton, 115, 350 ; see List of Illustrations. 
Winchester School, 211. 
W'oUaston, John, 177, 178. 



Wollestan Manor, 98, 99, 353. 

Wolstenholme, Dan'l, 139. 

Wonneley, Mr., 274. 

Woodbridge, 132. 

Woodlawn Mansion, 135, 152, 153, 155, 

156, 359; see List of Illustrations. 
Woodstock, 129, 228. 
Woolselly Manor, 68. 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 57, 352. 
Wyatt, Sir Dudley, 33. 
Wycomico Parish, 59, 60, 62, 242. 
W'yecomico, 18. 

Yeocomico Church, 00, 241, 242, 331, 
348; see List of Illustrations. 

Yeocomico Creek or River, 18, 39, 114, 
142, 218, 319, 331, 348, 350. 

York River, 5, 12, 14, 310, 324. 

Young family, 129. 



\ 



